• Contact
Tuesday, July 15, 2025
  • Login
Oklahoma Business Voice
  • Home
  • News
    • All
    • Aerospace
    • Childcare
    • Education
    • Energy & Environment
    • Federal
    • Film & Television Industry
    • Finance
    • Health Care
    • Innovation
    • Issues Affecting Oklahomans
    • OBV One-on-One
    • Opinion
    • Politics & Elections
    • Taxes & Budget
    • Tribal
    • Workforce Development
    Carpenter Training Male Apprentice To Use Mechanized Saw

    Oklahoma gets money boost to expand Trump apprentice plan

    The University of Oklahoma is funding several artificial intelligence (AI) projects to trigger innovation in health care, education, research and digital infrastructure. 

    Oklahoma higher education makes $14.6 billion economic impact

    Law gavel on a wooden desk, law books background

    U.S. Labor ends pursuit of liquidated damages over wage violations

    Photo from Tinker Air Force Base

    Oklahoma City aerospace generates $8.8 billion, 80,000 jobs, report says

  • Sign UpNEW
  • About
  • Contact
  • Advertise With Us!
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • All
    • Aerospace
    • Childcare
    • Education
    • Energy & Environment
    • Federal
    • Film & Television Industry
    • Finance
    • Health Care
    • Innovation
    • Issues Affecting Oklahomans
    • OBV One-on-One
    • Opinion
    • Politics & Elections
    • Taxes & Budget
    • Tribal
    • Workforce Development
    Carpenter Training Male Apprentice To Use Mechanized Saw

    Oklahoma gets money boost to expand Trump apprentice plan

    The University of Oklahoma is funding several artificial intelligence (AI) projects to trigger innovation in health care, education, research and digital infrastructure. 

    Oklahoma higher education makes $14.6 billion economic impact

    Law gavel on a wooden desk, law books background

    U.S. Labor ends pursuit of liquidated damages over wage violations

    Photo from Tinker Air Force Base

    Oklahoma City aerospace generates $8.8 billion, 80,000 jobs, report says

  • Sign UpNEW
  • About
  • Contact
  • Advertise With Us!
No Result
View All Result
Oklahoma Business Voice
No Result
View All Result
Home News
State Chamber talks workforce development with Oklahoma Senate

State Chamber talks workforce development with Oklahoma Senate

Brent Skarky by Brent Skarky
May 10, 2023
in News, Workforce Development
Reading Time: 3 mins read
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

OKLAHOMA CITY (OBV) – Workforce development took center stage Wednesday morning at the Oklahoma State Capitol. Leaders from The State Chamber of Commerce spoke in front of the third meeting for the Oklahoma Senate Select Committee on Business Retention and Economic Development.

For the past several years, state leaders have made a concerted push to recruit new cutting-edge businesses to Oklahoma. The committee was created to look into the current ways that the state is executing it’s economic development plans.

“I think a high tide raises all ships. So we want to make sure that we’re creating a competitive business environment, support what we’ve got, grow what we’ve got, and then bring in new entities as well,” said Sen. Kristen Thompson of Edmond.

State Chamber CEO and president, Chad Warmington, and State Chamber Research Foundation executive director, Ben Lepak, shared workforce development research that shows that more than 60% of state company owners consider workforce issues their biggest hurdle to doing and growing a business in Oklahoma.

The Chamber laid out plans to create a new workforce entity that would better coordinate workforce pipelines at all levels across Oklahoma.

“We’ve been, for the last year and a half, looking deeply into the workforce ecosystem of the state and why we don’t have the workers we need for the economy that we want to have. And as we’ve been doing that, you can’t look at workforce development without looking also at economic development. So we’ve been looking at states that do it really well and we see some common elements in both those structures. We were excited just to come talk about what we’ve learned on workforce development,” said Warmington.” I think with the Governor and the legislature taking a deep look at how we execute economic development, it’s an exciting time to get both of those things right. We just wanted to come share what we have learned. We want to be helpful and lend our support to the effort.”

Lepak and Warmington pointed to states like Ohio, Florida and Indiana that have overhauled their workforce entities to achieve great economic development results. These plans all include a private business leadership component as part of their models. They say a plan similar to Virgina’s might be the best fit for Oklahoma.

“I think in Oklahoma, we want a little bit more say from our government than what some states are doing. Virginia’s got kind of a nice hybrid model.
It has business leaders on the board, it’s got state leaders on the board, it’s got legislative leaders in the board. The board that’s coordinating is made up of a good mix of public and private officials that are giving it direction and scope,” said Warmington.

“I am a fan of public-private partnerships. I think the private sector is much more flexible. We can pivot a lot more quickly than government does, but we have to have oversight in place. We are guarding taxpayer dollars and that way we’re being intentional,” said Vice-Chair Thompson.

The Chamber says a taskforce created by Governor Kevin Stitt in January, coupled with SB 621 (still awaiting passage through the legislature), set the stage for our state to take huge steps in creating solutions for workforce issues and continue the push to recruit new business to our state.

“I think it’s a tremendous success that we’re even in the running for these things, like the fact that we were on the map for the last couple of these economic development projects. They’re not over yet, by the way, either. We’re still in the running on those. That is a really good sign that people are paying attention to what Oklahoma is doing,” said Warmington

“I think any good strategy says, ‘okay, we’re getting close. What are the parts that we’re not getting right and let’s go fix those,'” said Warmington. “So I think it’s a tremendously good opportunity. I think the governor and the legislature, working together in this interim, can really perfect how we operate. We can be set to have a much better chance of landing those companies when we get into position.”

Tags: Chad WarmingtonOklahomaOklahoma SenateState Chamber of OklahomaWorkforce
ShareTweetShare
Previous Post

Oklahoma destination management company recognized as one of nation’s best workplaces

Next Post

Task Force recommends single owner of workforce

Related Posts

Carpenter Training Male Apprentice To Use Mechanized Saw
Childcare

Oklahoma gets money boost to expand Trump apprentice plan

July 15, 2025
The University of Oklahoma is funding several artificial intelligence (AI) projects to trigger innovation in health care, education, research and digital infrastructure. 
Education

Oklahoma higher education makes $14.6 billion economic impact

July 15, 2025
Law gavel on a wooden desk, law books background
Federal

U.S. Labor ends pursuit of liquidated damages over wage violations

July 15, 2025
Photo from Tinker Air Force Base
Aerospace

Oklahoma City aerospace generates $8.8 billion, 80,000 jobs, report says

July 14, 2025
Mayor David Holt
News

Oklahoma City Mayor Holt to unveil new Thunder arena design

July 14, 2025
Rick Nagel
News

Oklahoma Aviation Academy founder new State Chamber chairman

July 11, 2025
Next Post
Task Force recommends single owner of workforce

Task Force recommends single owner of workforce

Oklahoma Business Voice

© 2023 Oklahoma State Chamber.
Powered by High Five Media.
Privacy Policy

Navigate Site

  • Home
  • News
  • Sign Up
  • About
  • Contact
  • Advertise With Us!

Follow Us

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Sign Up
  • About
  • Contact
  • Advertise With Us!

© 2023 Oklahoma State Chamber.
Powered by High Five Media.
Privacy Policy

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.