Population Growth for OKC

[T. Jamison]

I don't think they are liars and freeloaders. I just know that unemployment insurance and the unemployment rate are separate. BLS doesn't count them.

If they are drawing unemployment and not currently looking for work, they are defined as discouraged workers, not unemployed.

I'm certainly not hopping on the freeloaders argument. I'm just saying Midtowner is right about the way unemployment is counted.

[Pete]

You CANNOT draw unemployment benefits without giving evidence of an active job search:

The Oklahoma Employment Security Act says that an unemployed individual is eligible to receive benefits for the week where that individual is able, available and actively seeking suitable employment at a pay rate generally available in their area of the state in keeping with his/her work experience, education or training

You must contact a minimum of two different employers each week to meet the minimum work search requirement.

https://fileunemployment.org/oklahom...-requirements/

[BoulderSooner]

You CANNOT draw unemployment benefits without giving evidence of an active job search:





https://fileunemployment.org/oklahom...-requirements/

they don't really ask about this currently .... the law or not .

[Thomas Vu]

they don't really ask about this currently .... the law or not .

Yes ... they do.

[PhiAlpha]

You CANNOT draw unemployment benefits without giving evidence of an active job search:



https://fileunemployment.org/oklahom...-requirements/

For the record, they did stop requiring an unemployment search completely through October or November of last year and absolutely have not kept up with it well since that time. You don’t even have to apply for jobs, make two job searches and check the box off when you’re filing each week. It’s extremely easy to circumvent the work search requirement.

I have no idea why it’s happening and certainly can’t prove that staying on unemployment is the reason for it, but I’ve talked to a ton of bar and restaurant owners and owners/managers in other businesses that are having a ton of trouble finding help right now and they weren’t having that issue to this extent at other times in which our unemployment numbers were low.

[Pete]

^

Whether people can circumvent the job search requirement by lying about it is not the point -- not to mention it's making a very broad generalization without having any real knowledge.

People keep claiming that those receiving unemployment benefits are not counted in the unemployment numbers and that is 100% false.


The reason employers in the service industry are having trouble finding employees is because almost every one of them cut their staff with no notice and they all had to find other jobs. Most of these places do not begin to pay their staff fairly and they are generally treated as disposable, so now people are surprised they don't want to come back to that life?

The very low unemployment numbers indicate they have moved on.

If restaurants and bars want employees to come back and stay, they should pay them appropriately and treat them better.

[PhiAlpha]

^

Whether people can circumvent the job search requirement by lying about it is not the point -- not to mention it's making a very broad generalization without having any real knowledge.

People keep claiming that those receiving unemployment benefits are not counted in the unemployment numbers and that is 100% false.


The reason employers in the service industry are having trouble finding employees is because almost every one of them cut their staff with no notice and they all had to find other jobs. Most of these places do not begin to pay their staff fairly and they are generally treated as disposable, so now people are surprised they don't want to come back to that life?

The very low unemployment numbers indicate they have moved on.

If restaurants and bars want employees to come back and stay, they should pay them appropriately and treat them better.

Just to be clear, It isn’t by lying. You just have to complete two “job searches” which means you could search for accountant and plumber jobs each week on OK job match and that fulfills the requirement so that you can check the box and file every week.

[Pete]

Just to be clear, It isn’t by lying. You just have to complete two “job searches” which means you could search for accountant and plumber jobs each week on OK job match and that fulfills the requirement so that you can check the box and file every week.

Requirements are that you make personal contact and:

Contacts should be for work you are willing and qualified to do, pay that you are willing to accept, and in the area that you are willing to work.

It's amazing how much misinformation there is about unemployment and how so many are quick to disparage those receiving benefits.

[PhiAlpha]

Requirements are that you make personal contact and:




It's amazing how much misinformation there is about unemployment and how so many are quick to disparage those receiving benefits.

I’m telling you how it works based on personal experience and doing it for nearly 32 weeks last year. I know what the requirements are, I know what is required to get it every week, and I know what is required to check off the weekly work searches box. I’m not just making it up. Apparently the source you’re pulling that from is either new or not in line with what you are actually asked to do when filing. Which wouldn’t be all that surprising because the entire process is a cluster. I was actually asked to FAX my ID information at one point instead of uploading it to a website or scanning and emailing it. They finally started modernizing it toward the end of the year and it’s much better now from a tech standpoint which is something the current OK administration has done a pretty good job of, but until October or so it was a mess.

Certainly am not trying to disparage anyone from doing it...after being employed consistently for 11 years...I had no other option then to file for 3/4 of last year.

[Pete]

I’m telling you how it works based on personal experience and doing it for nearly 32 weeks last year. I know what the requirements are, I know what is required to get it every week, and I know what is required to check off the weekly work searches box. I’m not just making it up. Apparently the source you’re pulling that from is either new or not in line with what you are actually asked to do when filing.

It is from the state of Oklahoma unemployment website.

These are the current requirements; was probably different when you were on it, as they briefly relaxed things during the height of Covid.

[PhiAlpha]

It is from the state of Oklahoma unemployment website.

These are the current requirements; was probably different when you were on it, as they briefly relaxed things during the height of Covid.

I was on it one time previously for about two weeks in 2013. The requirements then were the same as they were when they pulled back the relaxed pandemic work search requirements. If that is actually what’s required when you file now and not just the listed requirements on the website, that would be new since January 2021.

[Pete]

The point is, you are required to look for work while receiving unemployment benefits.

So the idea that our unemployment rate is low due to people receiving benefits and not being counted in the survey as being out of work is completely incorrect.

[PhiAlpha]

It is from the state of Oklahoma unemployment website.

These are the current requirements; was probably different when you were on it, as they briefly relaxed things during the height of Covid.

From the state unemployment page under Number 4(After you file):

• Perform two (2) work search efforts each week benefits are claimed. Keep a record of these work searches for auditing purposes, by using a tracker such as our Work Search Form. A completed, example form can be found HERE.
  
  • Job searches can be done through okjobmatch.com, as well as other websites such as Indeed.com or LinkedIn.com

https://oklahoma.gov/oesc/individuals.html

[Bunty]

To return back to the topic, the Oklahoma City metropolitan statistical area, added 15,387 people to its population between July 1, 2019 and July 1, 2020 for a total of 1,425,375. Tulsa metro has gone over 1 million for the first time.

https://tulsaworld.com/news/local/tu...=home-breaking

[BG918]

Interested to see if any counties are added to the MSA’s for OKC and Tulsa or if they just remain in the CSA. I think Pottawottamie and Kingfisher Counties get added which would be an additional ~72k and ~16k respectively for the OKC metro (1,513,375 total). And in Tulsa Washington, Muskogee and Mayes Counties get added for an additional ~52k, ~68k and ~42k respectively for the Tulsa metro (1,168,500 total). Combined both metros would be 2,681,175 or 67% of Oklahoma’s total population.

I think Payne County remains separate for now, not quite enough commuting between Stillwater and either OKC or Tulsa. It will be interesting to see if that changes, I think the OKC metro would likely snatch it based on development patterns in Edmond/Guthrie.

[Bunty]

I think Payne County remains separate for now, not quite enough commuting between Stillwater and either OKC or Tulsa. It will be interesting to see if that changes, I think the OKC metro would likely snatch it based on development patterns in Edmond/Guthrie.

I think Stillwater identifies too closely with its manufacturing plants and most of all OSU to be a suburb of OKC or Tulsa. If degree of media penetration figures in, then Tulsa would lose big. OKC strongly dominates most of the media.

If Stillwater is lucky enough in the final 2020 census figures, it will be Oklahoma's new metro, assuming minimum population requirement to become a metro isn't raised to 100,000.

[SouthOfTheVillage]

This is Anecdotal, of course, but I’ve never seen so many West Coast / non-rental car license plates driving around OKC.

They seem to be moving here in Droves.

[Pete]

^

I have yet to see one.

And I think it's safe to say I am all over OKC on a regular basis.

[jerrywall]

This is Anecdotal, of course, but I’ve never seen so many West Coast / non-rental car license plates driving around OKC.

They seem to be moving here in Droves.

I can't say for sure if it's droves, but on the various Oklahoma subreddits there has absolutely been an uptick of "moving to Oklahoma" posts by folks looking for information. I've been mentally ascribing it to a supposition that a lot of moves and such were put on hold during the height of the pandemic, so now they're starting to happen. I'm not sure if the totality will end up being higher than normal though.

[Rover]

This is Anecdotal, of course, but I’ve never seen so many West Coast / non-rental car license plates driving around OKC.

They seem to be moving here in Droves.

Sometimes people just see what they want to. And anecdotal just means "a rumor I'm starting without any facts". We all know you are adamant that Cal with all those liberal commies will close down soon and the good ole gun-toters will move to OK.

Just curious how you know the rental from the non-rental at the stoplight. When I rent cars there's no sticker on it saying Hertz, or National.

[PhiAlpha]

^

I have yet to see one.

And I think it's safe to say I am all over OKC on a regular basis.

Anecdotal as well, but I’ve talked to at least 10-15 people in passing up in Tulsa that have moved from either the east or west coast. Several were for the Tulsa remote program but some, similar to you, had ties here and were tired of the high price/pace of the coasts and wanted a change. The Tulsa Remote program is a pretty cool deal, I wish OKC had someone like Kaiser that could set up something like that. I’ve talked to several people that moved here through it from Michigan, CA, NYC, and others that have all been very impressed with Tulsa, OKC and OK as a whole and have kind of become ambassadors when they visit home. The one from NYC was from NY originally and all her friends thought she was nuts. Since then they’ve come to visit and have all left very impressed. The one from Michigan (actually wasn’t Tulsa remote but moved here on a museum contract) likes it so much that she’s actively trying to find a way to stay even though her contract is about to be up. I also have several friends that moved home from NYC, Austin and others that are now allowed to work remotely and plan to stay.

To further the point of the thread, OK in general really has a good thing going, especially post pandemic, for individuals that can work remotely. The hard part as mentioned is getting the large corporate relocations that provide the huge population boost. Tulsa finally made it over 1,000,000 residents in the MSA so now the state has two cities over 1M.

[Pete]

^

Yet as of the 2020 census, Oklahoma is below average in national growth.

Of course people are moving here from other places as Americans are more mobile than ever. But there are reasons those numbers remain low, as has been rehashed many times.

[Bunty]

Oklahoma City doesn't need a remote program as much as Tulsa. Oklahoma City grew faster than Portland, OR from 2000-2020 and 2015-2020. It would likely give Oklahoma City a negative, rather than positive image from looking like it has to bribe people to move there. Positive word of mouth boasting likely sells better.

[midtownokcer]

This is Anecdotal, of course, but I’ve never seen so many West Coast / non-rental car license plates driving around OKC.

They seem to be moving here in Droves.

I live in a downtown apartment complex with a large parking garage. Most of the out of state tags are from Texas followed by California, and Colorado. There are quite a few Washington state plates as well.

[SouthOfTheVillage]

I live in a downtown apartment complex with a large parking garage. Most of the out of state tags are from Texas followed by California, and Colorado. There are quite a few Washington state plates as well.

Definitely refreshing to see so many of those Folks moving to OKC.
I can’t blame them at all.
It is turning the Corner.