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Article: Choctaw County shows improved jobless rates
- Article from:
- THE JOURNAL RECORD
- Article date:
- September 15, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1997 The Journal Record. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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HUGO -- Hints of hope are emerging in the historically dismal
picture of joblessness in Choctaw County.
Unemployment here fell below the double-digit level in July, to
9.5 percent. Choctaw County's rate was still almost the worst in
Oklahoma -- a state with an out-of-work average of 3.4 percent -- but
it has shown steady improvement through 1997.
New businesses have opened around Hugo thanks to a federal "rural
enterprise community" award that made $2.95 million available for
loans and infrastructure projects. Political clout and integrity
with investors are on the rise, city boosters say.
Such good news used to be hard to come by in southeastern
Oklahoma.
"We're just right on the verge of ...