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Breaking Past the $15 Wage Plateau in Oklahoma City · The 405 Payroll

• 0:13
  Welcome to The 405 Payroll.
• 0:15
  I'm Claire Brooks, and every weekday we take Oklahoma City's hiring news and turn it
• 0:20
  into something you can use before the workday is over.
• 0:23
  And I'm Miles.
• 0:25
  Today's headline is a single number: 3.2 percent.
• 0:28
  That's the average metro unemployment rate, according to the Greater Oklahoma City
• 0:32
  Chamber and its VeloCity economic data.
• 0:35
  And it's been under 4 percent for more than four years running,
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  which puts Oklahoma City in the top ten large metros in the country for low
• 0:43
  unemployment.
• 0:44
  Miles, that number alone doesn't pay anybody's rent.
• 0:48
  Right, and the same data says why.
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  Low unemployment is hiding a plateau at the entry level.
• 0:53
  A lot of retail and food service jobs are still stuck at 12 to 15 dollars an hour.
• 0:58
  So there's work everywhere, but the raise isn't automatic.
• 1:01
  Which is the part we can act on.
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  Here's the second number.
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  A hundred and twenty one major companies are actively evaluating expansions in the
• 1:09
  metro, and roughly 70 percent of them are in manufacturing,
• 1:13
  logistics, and aerospace.
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  And chamber assisted projects report an average wage of about $60,700 across their
• 1:21
  new corporate commitments.
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  I want to be careful here.
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  That's an average across projects, not what anyone starts at on day one.
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  Good flag.
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  But it shows where the ceiling is moving.
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  Spread $60,700 across a full time year and you land near 29 dollars an hour.
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  That's the neighborhood we're pointing toward today.
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  And here's what I think matters most for someone paying rent here.
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  The research says hiring is shifting toward selective, direct recruitment rather
• 1:49
  than mass online postings.
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  My read is that employers are noticing the people who show up and apply straight to
• 1:56
  them.
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  So a walk in at a hiring center, or an application on a company's own careers page,
• 2:02
  can count for more than twenty resumes sent into the void.
• 2:07
  That's a small edge, and small edges are the whole game.
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  Here's today's map.
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  First, who's hiring right now, with real starting pay and exactly how to apply.
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  Then the next rung: how someone earning 15 to 18 dollars an hour gets to 22 to 28 or
• 2:24
  higher.
• 2:25
  After that, extra money you can start this week, and a local program that helps a
• 2:30
  raise turn into a steadier month.
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  Then we close with a path and one thing to do before tonight.
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  And nobody here is behind.
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  If you're working and doing rent math on your lunch break, you're already putting in
• 2:42
  the effort.
• 2:43
  Our job is to point it at the right door.
• 2:45
  That's the show.
• 2:46
  Let's start with the doors.