What workforce trends Oklahoma City businesses are seeing

Editor's note: This is an excerpt from the recently released 2022 Greater Oklahoma City Economic Outlook. 

READ THE FULL 2022 GREATER OKLAHOMA CITY OUTLOOK. 

READ THE 2022 OKLAHOMA OUTLOOK.

READ THE 2022 OKLAHOMA CITY OUTLOOK.

Read the 2022 National Outlook.

The Greater Oklahoma City Chamber talent and business growth team makes more than 250 company visits annually and attempts to capture major challenges and opportunities that businesses are experiencing. While 2021 was still a tumultuous year, with the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, Oklahoma City employers were able to see economic recovery and even growth.

Many Oklahoma City employers felt enough clarity to move ahead with delayed plans for growth or hiring during 2021. These investments, often in hiring and/ or investments in technology or facilities, were usually streamlined adaptations of deferred plans that had been paused during 2020. Often these investments looked different than originally conceptualized, due to the rapidly evolving demands of consumers, the marketplace and the demands of the workforce.

The clearest emerging demands from the Oklahoma City workforce seem to mirror the demands being seen on a national scale, making employers re-think aspects of their hiring; from compensation, shift scheduling and flexibility to company culture, benefits and even mental health initiatives.

These rapidly emerging workforce expectations, coupled with a boom in better-paying, entry-level roles have helped contribute to Oklahoma City’s low unemployment rate. Much of the hiring in the metro this past year has come from employers seeing growth being driven by the pandemic. In particular, there has been quite a jump in new jobs being created around roles in warehousing, distribution and customer service.

While more traditional sectors did see some recovery, there has not been a correlating ramp-up up in rehiring, with many regional energy employers favoring a continued lean approach to operations. The one exception has been the re-hiring of drivers and production talent, which has become very competitive with the growth of competition for similar roles in other industries.

The aerospace/aviation industry continues to thrive overall, with federal contractors and private employers alike continuing to look for sources of engineering talent - most notably electrical engineers and high-tech fabricators and assemblers.

The healthcare community in Oklahoma City has seen critical talent shortages as pre-existing shortages of talent, especially in nursing, have been compounded by the pandemic. With growing numbers of nurses leaving the profession, and with neighboring states offering exorbitant salaries for short-term contracts, most area healthcare leaders list the nursing talent shortage as being one of their greatest concerns for the future.

Lastly, with the compressed acceleration of talent trends, the job market in Oklahoma City has rapidly become a “talent-friendly” city. Within select occupation titles and industries, the perception exists that there are more job openings than available applicants. Some employers are making rapid adaptations to attract and retain talent. These adaptations are producing better-paying jobs, improved working conditions and more employee-friendly places to work. While in many cases, these seem to be positive innovations for the Oklahoma City workforce, some employers who are unable or unwilling to adapt may find it increasingly difficult to attract and retain key talent in 2022. It is interesting to note that according to Emsi, a national workforce and data analytics firm, overall monthly job posting activity in the Oklahoma City metro has returned or is equal to pre-pandemic levels. The number of job postings in the last quarter of 2021 is now relatively the same as it was in March 2020. So, in this respect, local conditions in Oklahoma City are actually different than the nation which has experienced a 25% increase in job posting activity. While it is too early to tell with certainty, these numbers might indicate that in some ways Oklahoma City may not be experiencing the same level of talent disruption as the U.S.