Largest Area Employers

[Pete]

^

These numbers are clearly estimates.

I suspect a good number of the gain in jobs out there is due to Boeing, as they doubled in the last 3 years and they are anticipated to add another 900 jobs.

[AP]

It's crazy that no one really talks about the FAA but they are huge. I didn't realize they were the 4th largest employer.

[Pete]

People are obsessed with the oil & gas industry as is the local media.

The FAA is huge and they are investing in significant improvements.

Also, they train people from all over the country so it brings in lots of visitors.

[AP]

That 3.9% is of the largest employers, right? It be interesting to see how many are employed in that sector metro wide and not just in companies over 1,000. I'd bet it's higher.

[stile99]

On the one hand I find this list interesting, on the other hand I wonder how useful/accurate it is.

Hear me out, I'm not trying to crap on the post, I have a genuine concern. A lot of these companies/industries have made huge headlines for laying off a huge number of people, then hiring them back as contractors. So when you say Company ABC had 1000 employees in 2013 and then 500 employees in 2016, is that a job loss of 500, or are those 500 people sitting in the same chair they were three years ago, just now their badge has a different company name on it? For that matter, maybe there was a huge hiring spree, but only of contractors. So is that reflected in the number? Company XYZ had 1000 in 2013 and is listed as having 1000 in 2016, but actually there are 2000 people there, only 1000 are 'employed by' XYZ and the other 1000 are contractors so not counted?

Oh, what a tangled web we weave...

[Pete]

Also, it's been mentioned before but for some reason they always leave Walmart off this list.

A quick count shows 13 Supercenters, 8 Sam's Clubs and 17 Neighborhood Markets.

Assuming 300, 200 and 50 employees for these three types of stores, that's around 6,350 employees... And I'm sure it's more than that.

[Pete]

Also, 7 Eleven has 110 (!) locations in the area and I'm sure they employ a couple of thousand people as well.

[Jersey Boss]

Based on the last two posts by Pete, it would appear the report lacks credibility.

[Pete]

The Chamber probably relies on the companies to provide the numbers.

Having said that, it's a bit disingenuous to leave Walmart out as they could estimate, as I did here. They are almost certainly the largest private employer in the area.

[gopokes88]

O&G can drive huge growth and create booms, but when oil is down OKC keeps chugging along just fine. We're a lot more diverse then people realize.

[sooner88]

It would also be interesting to see an average salary per category / employer, etc. Even though oil and gas is a much smaller percentage, I would bet their average salary is one of the highest (if not at the top). Regardless, it is really encouraging to see that much diversification and, as mentioned, helps to explain why we haven't seen as dramatic effect on our local economy as might be expected.

[AP]

I saw numbers earlier from the ok commerce website that said in the central ok region (greater okc) there were 41,000+ o&g jobs in 2013 and average salary was ~$105,000.

[Teo9969]

Oil being down means that OKC big money is down. The day to day economy should be fine, and as long as the banks don't over expose themselves to that sector, then they should be able to still function and operate at a decent level. However, it's harder for a bank to back real estate projects if its oil portfolio is getting smashed.

[Snowman]

Based on the last two posts by Pete, it would appear the report lacks credibility.

I was thinking the cutoff was on jobs that had an average wage that you could actually live on, since that will tell you more about the health of your job base than how many minimum wage jobs chain stores have.

[Jersey Boss]

I was thinking the cutoff was on jobs that had an average wage that you could actually live on, since that will tell you more about the health of your job base than how many minimum wage jobs chain stores have.

There were no headers on the report that alluded to livable wage. That being said, the employees of 7-11 were not listed. When I see signs advertising "help wanted" it seems the starting wage is 10+ an hour, so that criteria is not being used in ignoring that employer. Obviously 7-11 employs as many as LOVES in the metro area. Additionally if you want an accurate picture of the health of your job base, failure to list WAL MART is a failure in painting the true health of your job base. This would be like getting a report on your physical that says you are in excellent health yet failing to note that you have a suspicious growth on your lung.

[HOT ROD]

Did I miss something? I don't recall seeing the Oklahoma City Public Schools nor the Putnam City or any other school district. Are they lumped into Govt or something? Surprising they do not have high numbers in the lists or maybe I missed them. ...

[Pete]

Did I miss something? I don't recall seeing the Oklahoma City Public Schools nor the Putnam City or any other school district. Are they lumped into Govt or something? Surprising they do not have high numbers in the lists or maybe I missed them. ...

Lumped in with the state employees.

[yukong]

Lumped in with the state employees.

I know it may be straining at gnats...but I submit teachers and employees of schools should be listed as employees of their various school districts and not state employees. At the end of the day...I suppose they are "state employees" but in practical, every day operations, they are employees of their various school districts. The state personnel office (OMES) has no say on who gets hired or not at Putnam City School District or Edmond, or OKCPS. Employees of school districts are not under the state employee retirement system. They are not under the state employee insurance system. They are not to my knowledge subject to the state employee hiring freezes, exceptions, etc. that apply to regular state employees. And their pay checks come from School District "X" and not the state treasurer. Yes...a lot of the money used to pay school employees comes from the state treasury, but a sizeable portion doesn't come from the state treasury but in fact comes from the county in which the district sits.

So, a truer picture of the employment numbers should have these folks broken out per the district for which they work. It also will give a truer picture of how many employees work for the various state agencies that are under the oversight of OMES.

[Pete]

Yeah, don't know why they don't break out teachers and other school personnel; would make the numbers more interesting.

[Pete]

I updated this list with April 2017 numbers.

This list always excludes certain employers like Wal-mart and other retailers, as they should up on lists put out by the state.

Also note that Continental Resources -- despite it's high profile and influence -- is not above 1,000 and thus only a fraction of Devon and Chesapeake, which are both around 2,500 employees.

Based on reports to the City as part of a hiring incentive plan (part of the deal when they moved from Enid) their total number of employees is around 712.

[gopokes88]

I updated this list with April 2017 numbers.

This list always excludes certain employers like Wal-mart and other retailers, as they should up on lists put out by the state.

Also note that Continental Resources -- despite it's high profile and influence -- is not above 1,000 and thus only a fraction of Devon and Chesapeake, which are both around 2,500 employees.

Based on reports to the City as part of a hiring incentive plan (part of the deal when they moved from Enid) their total number of employees is around 712.

Continental isn’t a huge company revenue wise. They’re a darling of Wall Street though which is why their market cap is almost the same size as Devon’s.

[Bits_Of_Real_Panther]

our HR sent out this "best companies" list, i'd never heard of the group that put the list together:

https://www.zippia.com/advice/17-bes...oklahoma-city/

[dcsooner]

With Alabama getting 4,000 jobs with new auto plant, wonder why Oklahoma never seems to compete for or win relocation or new build manufacturing? This single focus on O&G is hurting the State and keeping Oklahoma poor. Maybe we should focus more on economic growth and development rather than new fast food restaurants or other relatively trivial development

[Pete]

With Alabama getting 4,000 jobs with new auto plant, wonder why Oklahoma never seems to compete for or win relocation or new build manufacturing? This single focus on O&G is hurting the State and keeping Oklahoma poor. Maybe we should focus more on economic growth and development rather than new fast food restaurants or other relatively trivial development

Boeing was a huge get with more than 2,000 high-paying jobs.

[OkiePoke]

our HR sent out this "best companies" list, i'd never heard of the group that put the list together:

https://www.zippia.com/advice/17-bes...oklahoma-city/

That looks like someone went and looked at glassdoor reviews and selected them. They couldn't even crop pictures correctly. I wouldn't put much stock into that list.