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OKC’s Tourism Boom and the Wage Gap · The 405 Payroll

• 0:13
  Wait, did you, did you just drink cold brew out of a mason jar with no lid while
• 0:20
  walking through the door?
• 0:22
  Look, it, it was either spill three drops on my shoes or arrive totally unmedicated.
• 0:28
  I made my choice, okay?
• 0:30
  Unmedicated by caffeine is a dangerous state.
• 0:34
  But hey, speaking of people rushing around trying to keep everything afloat,
• 0:38
  did you catch that new economic impact report that Visit OKC put out on August
• 0:43
  twenty first, twenty twenty six?
• 0:45
  Oh, yeah.
• 0:46
  The one showing a record twenty five million visitors came through Oklahoma City
• 0:51
  last year?
• 0:52
  Twenty five million!
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  Driving two point nine billion dollars in local spending and supporting over thirty
• 1:00
  six thousand jobs across the metro area.
• 1:03
  It is, it is huge.
• 1:06
  It really is.
• 1:08
  But, um, there is a weird disconnect happening right in the middle of all that cash
• 1:14
  flow, isn't there?
• 1:15
  Because if you are working frontline hospitality or entry level service jobs,
• 1:21
  you are sitting right around twelve to fourteen dollars an hour.
• 1:25
  Meanwhile, the Greater OKC Chamber reported that their economic expansion roles
• 1:30
  average over sixty thousand seven hundred dollars a year, which works out to about
• 1:35
  twenty nine dollars and eighteen cents an hour.
• 1:38
  Yeah, almost double.
• 1:41
  It is like two totally different economic tracks happening on the exact same
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  streets.
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  You have got people pulling shifts downtown, keeping the whole tourism engine
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  humming, but barely making enough to match rent spikes, while tech and logistics
• 1:56
  expansions are bringing in those high sixty thousand salary tiers.
• 2:01
  Right, and people think the only way out of that twelve dollar an hour trap is
• 2:06
  filling out fifty online applications on generic job boards and waiting weeks to
• 2:11
  hear back.
• 2:13
  But there is actually a direct recruitment channel that skips all that digital void
• 2:18
  noise.
• 2:19
  Wait, you are talking about the direct hiring events over at the Oklahoma Works
• 2:24
  office, right?
• 2:25
  Five thousand five North Lincoln Boulevard?
• 2:27
  Exactly.
• 2:29
  The Oklahoma Employment Security Commission holds direct in person hiring events
• 2:33
  there, and employers like Walmart logistics show up hiring people on the spot for
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  warehouse and fulfillment roles that start at sixteen fifty to eighteen fifty an
• 2:44
  hour.
• 2:45
  No waiting four weeks for an email that says we are reviewing applicant profiles.
• 2:50
  You walk in with a physical copy of your resume and walk out with an offer letter.
• 2:56
  Exactly.
• 2:57
  But there is a real structural tension there, Miles.
• 3:01
  A lot of folks get caught in what I call the immediate survival loop.
• 3:06
  You take a fourteen dollar an hour hotel or restaurant gig or push gig app delivery
• 3:11
  routes because you need cash today for groceries and rent.
• 3:16
  But because it consumes all your energy, you have zero time to bridge into those
• 3:21
  higher paying trades or technical positions.
• 3:24
  Man, I, I feel that in my bones.
• 3:27
  Back when I was starting out in radio, I was making absolute peanuts on the morning
• 3:31
  show setup.
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  I had to take an overnight restocking shift three nights a week just to keep lights
• 3:37
  on, and I used the extra cash to fund evening technical classes.
• 3:41
  Was I exhausted?
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  Beyond exhausted.
• 3:45
  I looked like a ghost for six months.
• 3:47
  But that temporary grind gave me the breathing room to build actual leverage.
• 3:52
  And that leverage is what shifts you from surviving the week to actually building
• 3:58
  stability.
• 3:59
  So how does someone actually make that leap without spending four years and forty
• 4:05
  grand on a full degree?
• 4:07
  That is where institutions like Metro Tech come in.
• 4:10
  Over at their Springlake campus, nineteen hundred Springlake Drive,
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  they offer short term workforce certifications in trade fields,
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  HVAC, medical technology, and logistics management that only take six to twelve
• 4:25
  weeks to finish.
• 4:26
  Six to twelve weeks?
• 4:29
  That is, that is nothing in the grand scheme.
• 4:32
  It really is a fast track.
• 4:34
  And here is the piece most people miss, through OESC workforce development grants,
• 4:40
  many of those short term training programs can be fully funded.
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  You do not pay out of pocket if you qualify, and it instantly shifts your earning
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  capacity from sixteen dollars an hour up into that twenty four to twenty eight
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  dollar an hour bracket.
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  So you clear six to eight hundred bucks extra every single month just by knocking
• 5:01
  out a two month evening program.
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  Precisely.
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  But if you need cash right now while you are doing that training,
• 5:09
  you do not have to rely solely on low tip service gigs either.
• 5:14
  There are immediate side income opportunities tailored right to the metro rhythm.
• 5:19
  Oh, absolutely.
• 5:21
  Like weekend event logistics over at Paycom Center when big concerts or game days
• 5:25
  hit, or seasonal setup runs near the Oklahoma City Farmers Market.
• 5:29
  Pushing crew work for two days over a weekend can net you anywhere from one hundred
• 5:34
  fifty to two hundred twenty dollars in quick cash.
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  Which is the perfect cushion to cover rent or bills so you do not burn out while
• 5:42
  getting certified at Metro Tech.
• 5:44
  It puts you in control of your calendar instead of letting the calendar crush you.
• 5:50
  So if you are listening to this right now and feeling stuck in that entry level wage
• 5:56
  rut, here is your one concrete action step for today.
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  Do not put it off.
• 6:03
  What should they do?
• 6:04
  Call the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission directly at four zero five,
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  five two five, fifteen hundred, or go online to the OESC event portal today.
• 6:16
  Lock in an in person interview slot at the Oklahoma Works office on Lincoln
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  Boulevard before the end of this week.
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  Get your resume printed, walk through the door, and get yourself on the fast track.
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  Simple as that.
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  Simple, direct, and actionable.
• 6:33
  Alright, go make it happen.
• 6:36
  And buy yourself a coffee cup with a lid while you are at it.