While the unemployment numbers in Enid remain low compared to other areas in the state, and certainly the national average, residents here can breathe a sign of relief only if they are not among the 4.2 percent without jobs.
Even then, there are more who are witnessing less hours, mandatory leave or reduction in pay. There are others who drew severance packages and are not yet on the rolls of the unemployed but not working either.
Unemployment in Enid and northwest Oklahoma is low but so is the pool to draw from when it comes to higher-end jobs.
That’s what makes the work the city is doing in economic development so timely and critical at a moment that can be ripe for recovery.
It is Enid’s link to Washington, D.C., as well, as our representatives eye legislation every day that will affect industry and businesses willing to relocate or build in the Midwest, in places like Enid, Oklahoma.
The deals struck in the nation’s capital eventually will affect the residents in our town like every other city in the U.S., and the nation’s track record — with an unemployment rate of 9.5 percent — is not too good right now.
The decisions impacting business and industry that are being made in Washington are concerning.
The way to pull our nation from this recession’s grip is to go to work, and limiting a capitalistic society built around business and industry is not the answer. The jobs will just go elsewhere, and Americans will be left borrowing more and more in the years to come.
Congress needs to support growth of business in this country, not place limits upon it.
Once America is back to work, the economy will recover.
Which brings us full circle back to northwest Oklahoma.
Local officials say it could be worse in our area, but Enid, Garfield County and the surrounding area are holding their own when it comes to keeping workers employed.
Northwest Oklahomans are willing to work, and perhaps their biggest task now is making sure those in Washington feel the same way.
