Latest / The 405 Payroll / From Survival Pay to a Better Check in Oklahoma
Transcript
- 0:13If you look at the official state books in Oklahoma, the minimum wage is still seven
- 0:18dollars and twenty five cents an hour.
- 0:20But according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, fewer than five thousand workers
- 0:25statewide actually earn that.
- 0:27That is roughly zero point three percent of the workforce.
- 0:31Right, because nobody can actually survive on seven and a quarter.
- 0:35Out in the real world, entry level is what, fifteen, maybe eighteen?
- 0:39Exactly.
- 0:40ZipRecruiter data shows the median warehouse pay in Oklahoma City is nineteen
- 0:45dollars and eighteen cents an hour.
- 0:47But here is the hole in that picture: people are working those nineteen dollar jobs
- 0:51and still panicking over rent every single month, because expenses outpaced wages
- 0:58years ago.
- 1:00And the wild part is, you need cash yesterday, you go online to apply,
- 1:04and you hit this, this wall.
- 1:07You fill out an endless portal, upload a PDF, paste the exact same work history into
- 1:12thirty tiny boxes, and then...
- 1:14crickets.
- 1:15Three to six weeks of dead silence while an algorithm decides whether your resume
- 1:19has the right magical keywords.
- 1:22Meanwhile, the distribution centers along the corridor have open shifts right now.
- 1:27They need bodies on the floor tonight, but the corporate recruiting software acts
- 1:32like a locked vault.
- 1:34You have qualified people sitting on the couch waiting for an email while
- 1:37supervisors are working double shifts to cover empty slots.
- 1:41I used to do pre dawn radio, right?
- 1:43Four in the morning, taking calls on air.
- 1:46The number of people calling in on their break, or driving home from a gig,
- 1:50totally burnt out just trying to navigate corporate portals.
- 1:53It broke my heart.
- 1:55If you need cash this week, you cannot play the three week waiting game.
- 1:59So you bypass it.
- 2:00You go in person.
- 2:02For example, American StaffCorp has a walk in hiring setup at one eleven Harrison
- 2:08Avenue, Suite one zero six in downtown Oklahoma City.
- 2:11They run it Monday through Friday, nine in the morning to two in the afternoon,
- 2:15specifically doing direct interviews on the spot for second shift distribution jobs
- 2:20paying fourteen seventy five to seventeen seventy five an hour.
- 2:24Wait, walk in?
- 2:25Like, shake a hand, talk to an actual human being, get placed this week walk in?
- 2:30Yes!
- 2:31Or look at McLane Company out on the logistics corridor.
- 2:34They pay nineteen dollars an hour during training, and then once you finish
- 2:37production training, it bumps straight to twenty three dollars an hour on a four day
- 2:42schedule.
- 2:42You get three days off, and you are clearing twenty three an hour.
- 2:46See, that brings up the big friction point.
- 2:49What do you do when rent is due next Tuesday?
- 2:51Do you jump on a sixteen dollar an hour gig where you can onboard in forty eight
- 2:55hours, or do you hold out for that theoretical twenty dollar job that might call you
- 2:59in a month?
- 3:01You take the immediate paycheck.
- 3:03Cash flow stops the eviction notice.
- 3:06But, and this is where most people get trapped, you do not unpack your bags at
- 3:10sixteen dollars an hour and call it a day.
- 3:13You use the fast cash to buy breathing room, and then you start the real leap.
- 3:19The real leap out of that survival cycle does not require taking on thirty thousand
- 3:23dollars in student loans or spending four years in a lecture hall.
- 3:27Francis Tuttle Technology Center runs programs out of their Rockwell Campus at
- 3:31twelve seven seventy seven North Rockwell Avenue that cost less than four hundred
- 3:36bucks.
- 3:37Wait, four hundred dollars?
- 3:39Total?
- 3:39What kind of program?
- 3:41Their hybrid Phlebotomy Technician program.
- 3:44It is forty eight hours of total instruction over ten weeks.
- 3:47Tuition is two hundred and seventy nine dollars, supplies are eighty dollars,
- 3:51books are forty.
- 3:52That is three hundred and ninety nine dollars all in.
- 3:56Forty eight hours.
- 3:57So you are talking about, what, less than five hours a week of actual class time?
- 4:02Right, self paced online hours paired with hands on lab work.
- 4:06And once you pass the National Healthcareer Association certification,
- 4:10clinical phlebotomy roles regularly start between twenty and twenty five dollars an
- 4:14hour.
- 4:15You essentially double your long term earning potential over ten weeks for the cost
- 4:19of a car payment.
- 4:20Okay, but let us be real.
- 4:22If you are already working full time, how do you bridge the gap?
- 4:25Gas, groceries, parking fees while you train?
- 4:28You stack a micro gig.
- 4:30Look at Paycom Center down at One Myriad Gardens.
- 4:33They posted openings for part time Event Security and Guest Relations roles.
- 4:37The contract specifically requires you to work only three shifts every thirty days.
- 4:42That is it.
- 4:43Three shifts a month?
- 4:45You can do that during Thunder home games or random concert nights.
- 4:49Five or six hours in the evening, you put an extra two hundred bucks in your pocket,
- 4:53and it never touches your day schedule.
- 4:55Exactly.
- 4:56An extra one eighty to two fifty a month, completely flexible.
- 5:01And if you are staring at an immediate crisis right now, there is an actual
- 5:05emergency safety net most people do not know exists.
- 5:10Upward Transitions opens their emergency rent and utility portal every single Monday
- 5:14morning at seven o'clock online, or nine in the morning by phone at four zero five,
- 5:20two three two, five five zero seven.
- 5:22What do they cover?
- 5:23Up to one thousand dollars for eligible families and seniors to stop an eviction or
- 5:28prevent utility shutoffs.
- 5:30It is designed to wipe out the panic so you can actually focus on stepping up into a
- 5:34stable career.
- 5:36That is the whole ballgame.
- 5:38You remove the panic, take back your time, and suddenly you are not stuck.
- 5:42So do not wait on an algorithm.
- 5:45Before five o'clock today, check the eligibility criteria on Upward Transitions'
- 5:49portal, or call Francis Tuttle enrollment at four zero five,
- 5:53seven one seven, four nine zero zero.
- 5:56Pick one concrete step and make the move.