This editorial was written by Oklahoma Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell. We at Oklahoma Business Voice thank Lt. Gov. Pinnell for his generous time and effort writing about one of our state’s most important concerns, workforce.
As your Lieutenant Governor, I have had the privilege of visiting with countless businesses in all 77 counties. Most of the time, I’m included in celebrations – welcoming a new company coming to town or breaking ground on an expansion. I’m grateful for the opportunity to celebrate those economic development wins, and I’m particularly excited when those happen in rural Oklahoma.
As I visit with business owners, there is one consistent challenge they each share with me: finding available and qualified workforce. In smaller areas, recruiting workforce has become a vicious cycle of poaching workers from other local businesses, leaving their neighbor with the same challenging hole to fill.
A low unemployment rate is certainly something to celebrate, and ours is currently below the national average at just 3.3%. This tells us that Oklahomans are working and living our state motto, “Labor Omnia Vincit,” or “Work Conquers All.” But this coupled with the number of open jobs and the national and international demand to move to Oklahoma to take advantage of our pro-business environment leads to a workforce shortage that remains difficult to resolve.
Unprecedented growth in aerospace, advanced manufacturing, and our continued dominance in energy have made Oklahoma in-high-demand for business relocation and expansion. The pipeline of companies considering Oklahoma is at an all-time high, and the list of wins over the past year speaks for itself: Pratt & Whitney, American Airlines, Fisher59, Liberty Energy, and several others account for at least 5,564 new jobs and $5.19 billion in potential investment.
But the workforce challenge remains, which is why we must continue the positive momentum of setting our existing businesses up for success by helping to fill quality jobs with quality workers.
We must go about this in a few ways. First, we need to focus on increasing Oklahoma’s labor force participation rate, which is currently at 62.8%. This means that only 62.8% of available workers are currently employed. For comparison, Kansas is at 66.9%. Getting Oklahomans to work is going to be no small feat, which is why I’m working with the HELP task force to understand barriers to workforce entry for mothers, particularly the cost of childcare, and connecting with the Department of Rehabilitation Services to understand opportunities for Oklahoma’s disabled citizens. Re-entry programs for incarcerated workers and veterans are also crucial to getting Oklahomans in the workforce.
Our CareerTech system provides an opportunity for low-cost training and education for the most in-demand jobs in our state. Working with them helps both existing and potential businesses create a workforce pipeline uniquely trained for their specific needs.
We also must invest in public education. In the 2023-2024 school year, a new all-time high of 4,676 Oklahoma teachers were emergency certified. That number is unacceptable. We need to work with teachers to ensure they’re getting the resources and support they need to stay. Oklahoma’s future workforce is sitting in our classrooms, and they deserve a high-quality education from professional educators.
While I wish that was enough, we must look outside the state to fill the workforce gap. Marketing our low cost of living, low tax rates, family values, and overall quality of life to recruit workers to Oklahoma is the last piece of the complicated workforce puzzle.
Oklahoma certainly has our work cut out for us when it comes to workforce, but I know we’re up for the challenge. Championing Oklahoma businesses and showcasing Oklahoma to the world is my favorite thing to do, and I’ll continue to play my part in building a brighter future for Oklahoma’s economy. Imagine that.
