State Chamber says Oklahoma needs better workforce plan to land jobs like Panasonic
OKLAHOMA CITY (KOKH) — Fox 25 is learning more about why Oklahoma may have lost the Project Ocean bid, which was Oklahoma's attempt to bring Panasonic to the state.
According to the State Chamber's President, the loss of the Panasonic bid could be due to a shortage of workers in Oklahoma.
When asked by a state lawmaker about the loss of the Panasonic bid, Chad Warmington, President and CEO of the State Chamber said, "It's pretty clear that Oklahoma can't articulate and doesn't have a person who is the clear lead and owns workforce. I don't know if that's the reason we lost that, but we can imagine..."
A new study by the chamber showed last year there were 36,000 more job postings compared to people looking for a job.
However, the chamber believes the bigger issue is a shortage of workers with Bachelor's Degrees.
The foundation says there is a shortage of around 21,000 workers in the area.
"This is not a 2021 or 2022 problem. This is a problem we're going to continue to face as a state, and in fact, it's going to get worse if we don't address it," said Executive Director for the State Chamber Research Foundation Benjamin Lepak.
The chamber says Oklahoma should use its federal pandemic relief funding to create a new position or organization to help oversee Oklahoma's workforce development.
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