Oklahoma County-By-County Breakdown Shows the Harm of Not Extending Unemployment Insurance

If Congress fails to extend the federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation program more than 4,900 people in Oklahoma will lose their insurance coverage immediately on Dec. 28, according to the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission. An additional 14,900 people in Oklahoma will lose their coverage in the first six months of 2014 if Republicans continue to block an extension of the program, according to Department of Labor estimates.

Federal unemployment insurance took effect in 2008 and has been reauthorized several times since as Americans continue to recover from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. Despite the real progress the economy has made since its near collapse in 2008, there are still 1.3 million fewer jobs than there were before the recession began and long-term unemployment as a percentage of the unemployed is 37 percent, near historic highs.

Failure to extend federal unemployment insurance would also hurt job growth throughout the nation, costing the economy 240,000 jobs, according to the White House Council of Economic Advisers. The CEA estimates that in Oklahoma alone, failing to extend the program will cost 659 jobs.

COUNTY	# of People Losing Coverage Dec. 28
ADAIR	33
ALFALFA	3
ATOKA	16
BEAVER	3
BECKHAM	17
BLAINE	4
BRYAN	36
CADDO	50
CANADIAN	108
CARTER	50
CHEROKEE	83
CHOCTAW	49
CIMMARRON	1
CLEVELAND	230
COAL	3
COMANCHE	176
COTTON	9
CRAIG	38
CREEK	91
CUSTER	12
DELAWARE	54
DEWEY	3
ELLIS	1
GARFIELD	40
GARVIN	24
GRADY	69
GRANT	3
GREER	3
HARMON	1
HARPER	1
HASKELL	16
HUGHES	31
JACKSON	27
JEFFERSON	3
JOHNSTON	23
KAY	86
KINGFISHER	7
KIOWA	9
LATIMERRG	23
LEFLORE	70
LINCOLN	26
LOGAN	45
LOVE	7
MAJOR	3
MARSHALL	17
MAYES	72
MCCLAIN	32
MCCURTAIN	81
MCINTOSH	33
MURRAY	15
MUSKOGEE	121
NOBLE	12
NOWATA	16
OKFUSKEE	16
OKLAHOMA	975
OKMULGEE	67
OSAGE	55
OTTAWA	54
PAWNEE	21
PAYNE	38
PITTSBURG	91
PONTOTOC	63
POTTAWATOMIE	96
PUSHMATAHA	26
ROGERMILLS	3
ROGERS	126
SEMINOLE	60
SEQUOYAH	64
STEPHENS	51
TEXAS	18
TILLMAN	11
TULSA	935
WAGONER	76
WASHINGTON	53
WASHITA	8
WOODS	6
WOODWARD	8
Total Oklahoma counties	4907