The combat is “definitely not over,” say policyholders’ counsel California Supreme Court docket asked to weigh in
So significantly high court docket conclusions favor insurers 9 to 1
(Reuters) – Each and every federal appellate court to take into account the question so considerably has dominated that business all-threat home coverage procedures do not protect income dropped thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic, but policyholders’ legal professionals say the struggle is just having commenced on the battlegrounds that make a difference the most: the state supreme courts.
“It’s surely not over. That’s the takeaway for 2023,” claimed Michael Levine of Hunton Andrews Kurth, who is representing policyholders in various Covid-19 company interruption disputes nationwide.
“Most state significant courts still have not spoken on the issue, but the range will boost in 2023,” Levine explained, with new situations pending in the top courts of New York, Louisiana, Nevada, and Alaska – and, as of Wednesday, California.
Specifically, the 9th U.S. Circuit Courtroom of Appeals questioned the California Supreme Court to resolve a split among the California appellate courts as to regardless of whether the existence of the Covid-19 virus “can constitute ‘direct bodily loss or damage to property’ for needs of coverage under a professional property insurance policy coverage.”
The 9th Circuit seemed to rule out that probability in a 2021 decision, but not all state courts agreed with it. Some appellate divisions dominated in 2022 that plaintiffs have to have a likelihood to clearly show that the virus does, in truth, lead to a “physical alteration” by adhering to surfaces.
The 9th Circuit sent the issue to the California Supreme Court docket on Dec. 28, two weeks after the panel listened to argument in event-enterprise One more Planet Entertainment’s attractiveness of a ruling for its insurer, Vigilant Insurance policy. (Neither the celebration company’s lawyers at Pasich nor Vigilant’s authorized team at O’Melveny & Myers and Clyde & Co responded to requests for remark on Friday.)
“If the California Supreme Courtroom does choose up this query, which is heading to be the scenario that everybody’s observing – together with the New York situation,” explained David Weiss, a spouse in Reed Smith’s Litigation Insurance policy Restoration Team. The business has represented firms in Covid-protection disputes as effectively as United Policyholders, an advocacy team that often files amicus briefs on the matter and options to do so in the New York circumstance, Consolidated Restaurant Business (CRO) v. Westport Insurance coverage.
CRO, represented by lawyers at Cohen Ziffer Frenchman & McKenna, suggests the New York trial and appellate courts improperly grafted a prerequisite of “tangible alteration” onto the definition of property hurt, which would eliminate coverage for pollutants and destructive fumes.
Westport disagreed. Its legal professionals at O’Melveny & Myers and Clyde & Co argued that the situation provides “no novel challenges, nor troubles of good public significance.” But New York’s prime courtroom, the Court docket of Appeals, agreed to listen to CRO’s attractiveness on Nov. 30. (Attorneys for the two sides did not reply to requests for comment.)
Whilst the New York and California selections “could be really influential,” Weiss reported, “at the end of the working day the courts in other states are likely to use their possess rules to determine these difficulties.”
Both he and Levine foresee litigation continuing into 2024 or further than.
Laura Foggan, chair of Crowell & Moring’s Insurance policies/Reinsurance Team, is not so absolutely sure.
Even though “there may possibly be a point out or two that just stands as an aberration in opposition to the rest of the state,” she stated, “it doesn’t choose (a ruling) by just about every solitary condition supreme courtroom, when the prevailing perspective throughout the nation is constant.” Foggan has represented insurers and business trade associations in several Covid-coverage conditions.
In accordance to the University of Pennsylvania’s Covid Coverage Litigation Tracker, nine of the 10 higher court decisions as of Dec. 30 have been in favor of the insurance policies organizations. (The exception is Vermont.)
Three other condition supreme courts have heard argument but have not still ruled, in accordance to the litigation tracker.
Coronavirus did not cause any direct physical reduction to insured’s residence, courtroom said
Ohio Supreme Court joins other top point out courts in ruling for insurers
Dec 12 – Ohio’s greatest courtroom on Monday became the latest point out supreme court to conclude that businesses’ coverage policies do not go over losses they experienced just after staying force to curtail functions for the duration of the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
The Ohio Supreme Court docket on a 5-1 vote ruled that Cincinnati Insurance policies Co was not obligated to cover the losses sustained by an operator of an audiology practice mainly because the coronavirus did not induce any immediate actual physical decline or harm to its house.
The organization contended that it experienced a immediate physical reduction or damage to residence as defined by its “all-chance” business coverage policy just after it was forced to cease almost all operations for the first numerous months of the pandemic.
But Justice Jennifer Brunner, writing for the court’s the greater part, agreed with Cincinnati Insurance policy that the expression “decline” below the plan automatically needs that Neuro’s property sustain physical harm, which the presence of the virus does not result in.
“These types of decline or destruction does not involve a decline of the capability to use coated residence for enterprise purposes,” Brunner wrote.
She explained Neuro’s premises have been never ever wholly uninhabitable, just after Ohio Governor Mike DeWine in March 2020 ordered business enterprise shutdowns to gradual the spread of the virus, but had been basically rendered unsafe to the extent they served as an indoor room for accumulating.
Cincinnati Insurance policy, represented by Daniel Litchfield of Litchfield Cavo, thanked the justices for joining other courts that have turned down equivalent claims.
Nicholas DiCello, a lawyer for Neuro at Spangenberg Shibley & Liber, in a statement stated the he was let down with the ruling and he thought, at minimum, the policy was ambiguous.
The ruling marked the newest in a extended line of defeats for enterprises nationally who submitted hundreds of lawsuits searching for billions of pounds in protection after states imposed lockdowns and social gathering limits to gradual the virus’ spread.
Though most of those people rulings were being by federal courts deciphering condition legislation, point out high courts in Iowa, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Washington and Wisconsin have like Ohio’s ruled for insurers.
The Vermont Supreme Court in September became the first to aspect with policyholders.
The Ohio Supreme Courtroom took up the dilemma at the ask for of a federal judge presiding about Neuro-Interaction Solutions Inc’s lawsuit, who mentioned it elevated an important condition law question the justices should have a chance to address.
Justice Michael Donnelly dissented, expressing he considered his courtroom “improvidently” resolved to overview the situation.
The situation is Neuro-Conversation Products and services Inc. v The Cincinnati Insurance plan Co, Ohio Supreme Court, No. 2021-0130.
For Neuro-Communication Solutions: Nicholas DiCello of Spangenberg Shibley & Liber
For Cincinnati Insurance policies: Daniel Litchfield of Litchfield Cavo
Read a lot more:
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Iowa best court docket latest to reject insurance protection for COVID biz losses
Top Ohio court docket skeptical of insurance policy coverage for COVID business losses
The Ohio Supreme Court on Monday became the seventh state high court to rule that policyholders were not entitled to COVID-19 business interruption coverage.
That leaves only the Vermont Supreme Court as the only state supreme court to date to rule in policyholders’ favor on that issue.
Boardman, Ohio-based Neuro Communication Services Inc. had an all-risk commercial-property insurance policy issued by Cincinnati Insurance Co., according to the Ohio Supreme Court ruling in Neuro-Communication Services Inc. v. Cincinnati Insurance Co. et al.
The company, which operates an audiology practice under the name Hearing Innovations, stopped almost all of its operations beginning on March 23, 2020, and did not resume business until May 4, 2020.
After Cincinnati denied coverage on the basis its claim did not involve a physical loss to the property, it filed suit in U.S. District Court in Youngstown. District Court Judge Benita Y. Pearson asked the Ohio Supreme Court to consider the case.
The question certified for consideration by the state Supreme Court was whether coronavirus’ presence constituted direct physical loss or damage and whether an infected person’s presence constitutes direct physical loss or damage.
“Cincinnati argues that the policy’s definition of the term ‘loss’ as ‘accidental physical loss or accidental physical damage’ necessarily requires that there be some physical damage to Neuro’s property,” the ruling said.
Neuro “argues that the term ‘loss’ includes a loss of use,” it said. “We agree with Cincinnati. The definition of the term ‘loss’ is clear: for coverage to be provided, there must loss or damage to Covered Property that is physical in nature,” which “does not include a loss of the ability to use Covered Property for business purposes,” it said.
A brief dissenting opinion said the supreme court should not have accepted the case because “This court already has a well-established body of jurisprudence on basic contract interpretation.”
Cincinnati Insurance said in a statement that “We thank the Court for its careful consideration of this case” and are pleased its decision follows those from the other state supreme courts “and all federal appeals courts to date” on the issue.
State Supreme Courts that have ruled in insurers’ favor are those of Iowa, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Washington and Wisconsin, in addition to opinions by many federal district and appeals courts on the issue.
Nicholas A. DiCello, a partner with Spagenberg, Shibley & Liber LLP in Cleveland who represented Neuro-Communication, said in a statement, “We are disappointed in the Court’s ruling on behalf of our many clients and Ohio business owners.
“The policy before the Court did not contain a commonly used virus exclusion form. Absent a virus exclusion, our clients understood they would be covered.
“At a minimum, we believed the policy was ambiguous, and ambiguities are to be interpreted in favor of coverage. Nevertheless, the Court received comprehensive briefing and heard substantial argument, and we respect its ruling.”
John N. Ellison and Richard P. Lewis, partners at Reed Smith LLP in Philadelphia and New York, respectively, who authored an amicus brief filed by United Policyholders in the case on Neuro-Communication’s behalf, said in a statement that the court’s ruling “well demonstrates some of the inappropriate major hurdles that policyholders had to clear” in litigation COVID claims.
It said these hurdles include allowing the insurance industry “to make arguments untethered to the origin and purpose of the coverage,” and the court’s acceptance of them.
A Pennsylvania state appeals courtroom has overturned a lower courtroom and ruled from a Pittsburgh tavernin a COVID-19 company interruption case.
MacMiles LLC, which operates the Grant Road Tavern, sued Erie, Pennsylvania-based Erie Insurance policies Exchange in point out court in Pittsburgh right after it denied coverage for statements for the reduction of use of its physical premises for the reason that of the COVID-19 pandemic and the governor’s orders, in accordance to Wednesday’s ruling by the Pennsylvania Superior Court docket in Harrisburg in MacMiles LLC d/b/a/ Grant Road Tavern v. Erie Insurance Exchange.
In May possibly 2021, the demo court granted the tavern summary judgment, getting coverage less than the business profits protection portion of the coverage and a triable issue of actuality underneath the coverage’s civil authority provision.
The dispute occurs underneath the policy’s assertion that it will pay “for direct bodily ‘loss’ of or damage to Included home,” the appeals court claimed.
The demo court reasoned that “the disjunctive ‘or’ concerning ‘direct or bodily loss of’ and ‘damage to Coated Property’ supports a affordable examining of the Plan whereby a ‘direct bodily loss’ need to have not necessarily result from actual physical or structural hurt,” the ruling explained.
The appeals courtroom disagreed. The policy addresses only physical harm, it explained, not “purely financial decline.”
“The demo court’s reading through of the policy is strained,” it claimed. “Further, MacMiles has unsuccessful to allege any actual physical problems,” it said, in directing the trial court docket to enter an buy granting judgment on the pleadings in Erie’s favor on this problem.
The appeals court docket also dominated the demo courtroom erred in discovering there was a triable difficulty of point on the challenge of regardless of whether there is civil authority coverage for COVID losses beneath the plan.
The same day, the appeals court upheld the Pittsburgh court’s ruling in favor of a dental business that sued CNA Fiscal Corp. for COVID-19-related enterprise interruption protection.
A concurring impression in the MacMiles circumstance, in pointing out that a distinctive view was arrived at by the appeals courtroom in the related CNA circumstance, claimed “these instances, in which the Court must tackle protection troubles, are point intensive matters which require, in each and every situation, a evaluation of the individual policy.
“We must base our choice entirely on the policy’s language…our evaluate of MacMiles’s statements is limited to the ‘specific phrases employed’ in Erie’s plan.”
Attorneys in the circumstance did not reply to requests for remark.
It is a trend that can be connected to the pandemic and the rise of remote function. But it also underscores deeper concerns that Boston-region business leaders have lengthy held, especially considering that the Terrific Recession hit in 2008.
The city has very long been a money services hub. It is the birthplace of the mutual fund and the center of banking in New England. But marketplace consolidation, automation, and the superior cost of dwelling have progressively chipped away at that position. The ranks of people functioning in fiscal expert services in Massachusetts have stagnated, under no circumstances receiving again to the peak of 192,000 work opportunities viewed in early 2002, and usually hovering in the 170,000-vary for considerably of the very last decade. In September, the variety dipped below that threshold for the first time considering the fact that 1996.
The change has been seismic, even right before the pandemic when tech companies took around considerably of the Economical District. Now, with half-empty workplace towers all over the district, there is even been chat of changing some of those people business office properties to lab room, to accommodate the region’s rapidly-developing life science sector. (Just one these kinds of conversion, of a making near South Station that after held the country’s greatest WeWork site, is underway).
Japanese Financial institution main government Bob Rivers reported he thinks the money products and services sector’s heyday in the metropolis has come and long gone.
“I assume the ‘Financial District’ is heading to change into something else,” Rivers claimed, “[although] it might go on to be known as that for legacy factors.”
Rivers runs the most significant regular financial institution based in Boston, but Eastern’s headquarterson Franklin Street only occupies about 45,000 square toes, and he is arranging to minimize again even that modest amount, as quite a few office staffers function remotely. As with a lot of Boston CEOs, Rivers anxieties that the substantial cost of housing drives folks absent he claims he sees new hires “Zooming in” from Florida, a little something he would never have envisioned in advance of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The fact that Japanese is the major Boston-based retail financial institution states anything in and of itself. Gone are the times when Fleet bankrolled IPOs, or BankBoston managed branches in South America. Jap is proudly local, with a footprint principally minimal to Japanese Massachusetts. Now, the only main impartial retail bank based mostly any where in New England is Providence-dependent Citizens Money Group, which has kept its workforce steady at about 18,000 for at minimum a decade and has a main existence in Bigger Boston.
“I’d be stunned if you see internet work rising in the monetary providers [over the next five years],” CEO Bruce Van Saun stated. “I don’t believe any one has a approach that states which is heading to materialize.”
Banking is just just one of a few critical factors of Higher Boston’s money providers sector, together with coverage and financial commitment administration. Even though Point out Road and Fidelity Investments continue being, they’re the only two key impartial fund companies based mostly in the city. Massachusettsis even now dwelling to two massive unbiased insurers: Springfield-based mostly MassMutual, which specializes in everyday living insurance, and house-and-casualty large Liberty Mutual, which have equally expanded their office environment footprints in this article. (Boston also remains a big participant in enterprise capital and personal equity, but most of all those companies, with a number of noteworthy exceptions, are inclined to operate with relatively reduced staffing concentrations.)
The developing sense that Boston has become a department-office town has weighed on the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce for years. Unlike some other significant neighborhood industries, finance and insurance policy doesn’t have a powerful lobbying group to champion it on Beacon Hill or its personal quasi-public agency to cultivate corporate expansions.
A check out of home windows along Congress Street in downtown economical district Boston on Sept. 24, 2020.David L. Ryan/World Personnel
For this reason, the Chamber persuaded lawmakers eight a long time ago to build an advisory council for the market, a group that consists of reps from Point out Road, MassMutual, and Fidelity, as properly as a handful of lesser corporations, between other individuals. The council fulfills 3 times a year to advise the governor on policies for strengthening the sector, even though it’s not obvious how a lot the lower-profile council has served form public plan.
When he was at the Chamber, Jim Klocke led the thrust for this council, to glow extra of a highlight on economical services. A lot more just lately, prime money executives began trying to make Boston a hub for fiscal-engineering startups, hoping to capitalize on the region’s tech and innovation economic system.
But technology has its downsides. Klocke, who now leads the Massachusetts Nonprofit Community, concerns the prevalence of remote operate is getting its toll on the economical sector’s presence in Massachusetts.
“I would imagine that money services would be more susceptible to that syndrome than some of the other major industries,” Klocke explained.
Current chamber CEO Jim Rooney agrees. It is much easier nowadays, Rooney mentioned, to employ the service of personnel in decreased-charge spots.
“That speaks to this problem of competitiveness,” Rooney explained. “The additional we are complacent about it, the increased probability that these varieties of trends will continue.”
Several, if any, monetary company businesses have grown at a speedier rate in recent several years than Fidelity.
In this Oct. 14, 2019 file photo a Fidelity Investments emblem is hooked up to a developing in Boston. Steven Senne/Related Press
The firm has additional about 900 careers in Boston considering that right before the pandemic, developing its head count right here to additional than 5,500. Nonetheless, that amount is significantly from the 13,000 that Fidelity used in Massachusetts approximately 15 many years in the past. And Fidelity has developed employment noticeably in other locations, together with Smithfield, R.I., and Merrimack, N.H., considering the fact that launching this using the services of surge far more than two yrs back.
Kirsten Kuykendoll, Fidelity’s head of talent acquisition, explained most new hires however need to have to be tied to a physical area, even though the corporation is flexible about the days when employees canfunction from home. Although most of Fidelity’s job expansion is happening in other places, she pointed to the internet maximize in Boston around the last two many years as proof that “we surely see the place as a actually wonderful location to locate expertise.”
Other firms strike a comparable tone.
Even as the sector little by little sheds careers to considerably less highly-priced locales and the amplified use of automation and synthetic intelligence, quite a few fiscal marketplace leaders say Boston is a position they want to be, and keep on being bullish on the town and the state. The marketplace may possibly not be as prominent as it after was. But it’s even now important to the city’s financial achievement.
“People nonetheless see Boston as a economic services hub, whilst not in the very same way individuals did 10 yrs in the past,” said Lexie Bishop, a local branch supervisor for Swiss investment decision lender UBS. “Health treatment, biotech, and training obviously arrive to thoughts in conditions of the industries that Boston is acknowledged for. Just one of the matters that helps make Boston so particular is that we have a large amount of diversity in conditions of the industries that have a existence below.”
Jon Chesto can be attained at jon.chesto@globe.com. Stick to him on Twitter @jonchesto.
By summer 2022, Oklahoma’s total employment had almost returned to pre-COVID levels, after dropping 10{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} in the spring of 2020 (Chart 1). But while nearly the same number of people are now employed in the state as in 2019, the industries in which many of them work have changed. In some sectors, employment is still more than 10{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} below pre-pandemic levels, while jobs in other industries are up markedly from three years ago. In many cases, the changes represent a continuation—or even acceleration—of trends already underway in the previous decade. On the other hand, jobs in some industries have moved in a different direction since the pandemic. This edition of the Oklahoma Economist looks at which Oklahoma industries have added and shed the most jobs over the past three years, and how much these industries pay.
Many Shrinking Industries Tied to Energy Sector or Pandemic Trends
Up-to-date monthly employment data are available—or can be constructed based on the available data—for 52 unique Oklahoma industries that add up to total employment in the state, approximately 1.7 million workers._ As of July, ten of these Oklahoma industries had at least 3,000 fewer employees than they did three years ago (Table 1)._ In most cases, the drop represented a decline of more than 10{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} from pre-pandemic levels.
By far the largest Oklahoma jobs decline over the past three years—in both absolute and percentage terms—was in the sub-sector Support Activities for Mining. This industry primarily encompasses oil and gas services work done on a contract basis. Other Mining sector jobs—consisting primarily of oil and gas extraction not done on a contract basis—also remain more than 20{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} lower than in mid-2019. In both of these industries, jobs also fell considerably in the seven years prior to the pandemic, as energy sector productivity surged, oil prices collapsed in 2015, and firms failed or were consolidated. So, despite strong job gains over the past year, overall mining/energy sector employment in the state remains more than 40{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} lower than a decade ago, a decline of nearly 28,000 jobs.
Two durable manufacturing industries linked in part to production of goods for the energy sector—Machinery, and Fabricated Metals—also still have considerably fewer jobs than prior to the pandemic, despite some growth over the past year. Jobs in both of these sectors were trending flat to down in the years prior to the pandemic.
Several industries that were growing before the onset of COVID-19 now have considerably fewer employees than in 2019. This includes Heavy and Civil Engineering Construction and Nursing and Residential Care Facilities, both of which employ about 3,500 fewer people than three years ago. Care facilities have also continued to shed jobs over the past year. This continued decline in capacity of institutions to care for the elderly and those with special needs has likely meant that many healthy working-age citizens have had to reduce their labor force participation in order to care for relatives.
Two industries that include mostly miscellaneous service industries—Other Administrative, Support, and Waste Management Services, and Other Private Services—also have considerably fewer jobs now after growing relatively rapidly from 2012 to 2019. The first sector includes subindustries such as office administrative, facilities support, and security services that have likely been impacted by fewer workers going into the office every day. Similarly, Other Private Services includes repair and maintenance, personal care services like beauty and nail salons, and dry-cleaning services that likely were also negatively affected by less commuting and office work than in the past.
Finally, jobs also remain considerably lower in the Local Government sector than prior to the pandemic, as well as in the Information sector. The Information sector includes subindustries such as publishing, broadcasting, and telecommunications that have been steadily shedding jobs for more than a decade.
Many Fast-Growing Industries Helped by Changing Consumer Preferences
By contrast, 10 Oklahoma industries have added more than 1,500 jobs since mid-2019 (Table 2). The sector with by far the largest increase—in both absolute and percentage terms—is Transportation and Warehousing, excluding truck transportation. The fastest growing subsegments of this industry, which accounted for the vast majority of growth through the end of 2021, were Warehousing and Storage, and Couriers and Messengers. Activity in these segments would include, for example, large distribution centers and transportation vehicles to deliver goods to households. This industry has grown tremendously as more people buy goods online, and it has grown even faster in Oklahoma than in the nation, especially during the pandemic. This overall industry is now over twice as large in Oklahoma as it was in 2012.
Second in job growth in the state since 2019 is Employment Services. This includes temporary worker services and employment placement services. Rapid growth in this sector has primarily occurred over just the past year, as labor markets in the state have tightened considerably, to near-record low unemployment rates. Prior to the pandemic, this sector was growing at a somewhat slower but still above average rate.
Retail Trade other than for automobiles, food/beverages, and general merchandise now has over 6,000 more jobs than in 2019. This “other retail” segment would include industries such as home improvement stores and sporting goods stores that have likely benefited from pandemic trends. It also would include retail marijuana stores under “Store retailers not specified elsewhere,” along with other retail establishments not counted otherwise._ While monthly data are not available, annual data show that this subsegment of “other retail” alone added nearly 2,400 jobs in Oklahoma from 2019 to 2021.
Limited-Service Restaurants and Other Eating Places—basically all eating places besides full-service restaurants—have also added over 5,000 jobs in Oklahoma since 2019, and strong growth has continued over the past year. The pandemic may have shifted consumers’ preferences toward less formal dining yet more eating or ordering out, although this sector was also growing rapidly in the years prior to the pandemic.
Indian Tribes added over 4,000 jobs in the past three years, with all of the net adds occurring within just the past year. So, after a brief pause in the depths of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, this important segment of the Oklahoma economy appears to be continuing on its strong growth path of the pre-pandemic years.
Only one other Oklahoma industry has added more than 2,000 jobs since before the pandemic—Accounting, Tax Preparation, Bookkeeping, and Payroll Services. This sector has also grown rapidly at the national level and was growing solidly prior to the pandemic, in part as businesses outsource more of these services instead of conducting them in-house.
Four other Oklahoma industries added between 1,600 and 1,800 jobs from 2019 to 2022. Two of these industries—Food Manufacturing and Building Equipment Contractors—likely benefited from pandemic trends of demand for more domestic food production and increased home remodeling, but they also were growing solidly prior to 2019.
The other two fast-growing industries from 2019 to 2022 were in the finance sector—Credit Intermediation (banks and related firms) and Insurance Carriers. Both had relatively flat employment in Oklahoma from 2012 to 2019, but each have grown solidly since, including over 6{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} in just the past year in both cases, faster than their growth in the nation as a whole.
Faster-Growing Industries Generally Have Lower Salaries
While knowing which industries are growing or shrinking fastest is useful for understanding current trends in the Oklahoma economy, it is also helpful to know how much these industries pay, relative to the 2021 average annual pay in the state of $51,350. As a whole, the fastest-growing industries in the state since 2019 pay below-average salaries, while those shrinking the most pay above-average salaries (Table 3). However, there are some key differences in both sets of industries that may provide some silver linings.
Among the 10 Oklahoma industries that have added the most jobs the past three years, the weighted average annual salary (taking into account the sizes of the sectors) in 2021 was $43,594, well below the overall state average. However, half of these industries paid above the state average, and two others—transportation and warehousing excluding truck transportation; and food manufacturing—paid only slightly below average. The inclusion of low-paying retail trade and restaurant jobs, and the larger size of these two industries, pulls the average down for the group. More positively, three of the fastest-growing industries in the state since 2019—accounting, banking, and insurance—pay over $68,000/year on average, or more than 30{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} above the state average.
Looking at the 10 fastest-shrinking Oklahoma industries since 2019, average annual pay in 2021 was just over $56,000, well above the overall state average. Only three—local government, nursing care facilities, and other private service jobs—paid below-average wages. Of the others, energy sector jobs pay especially high wages, and average pay in the manufacturing, construction, and information industries included on the list also exceeded the state average by a sizable margin. The longer-term trend of high productivity in these industries—reflected in their higher pay—means sustainably strong job growth will likely be difficult, as fewer workers are needed to complete the same amount of work.
Summary and Conclusions
The last three years have witnessed wide swings in Oklahoma employment, both as a whole and across industries. While some Oklahoma industries have more than recovered from the pandemic—if they ever fell at all—jobs in several other industries are still markedly below pre-pandemic levels. The state’s important and high-paying energy sector, despite strong growth over the past year, remains the furthest away from pre-pandemic employment levels, as do some industries related to in-person office work. Several other higher-paying industries also continue to lag. On the other hand, a number of industries now have considerably more workers than prior to the pandemic. Warehousing and home delivery services, in particular, have grown tremendously. While a couple of lower-wage industries—specialty retail and fast-service restaurants—have experienced strong growth, some higher-paying industries have also grown rapidly, including accounting, banking, and insurance.
/cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com/reuters/KJMV43L3ORN2PMTXQAOTC5J3QY.jpg "Business insurance battle for Covid losses shifts to state high courts")
/cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com/reuters/FT6A2J4BVZN5VGHQ5ELYU2MNZQ.jpg "No insurance coverage for business COVID losses, says Ohio top court")
