Overcoming A Talent Shortage Not A One-Size Fits All Approach

Oklahoma City OK

20 March, 2022

2:51 PM

Description

Press release from the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber: March 17, 2022 Editor's note: This piece was originally written for the IEDC Economic Development Journal. We thought readers might be interested in learning a bit about the Chamber's response to workforce / talent development challenges. An edited version of the original is below. -- For the past decade, concerns surrounding talent have been at the forefront of economic development and community building, and the pandemic only exacerbated those challenges. Today, talent shortages are one of the biggest concerns on the minds of business leaders. This is not an issue that can be owned by any one group, be it a foundation, chamber of commerce, economic development organization or city government. If you are a stakeholder in your community's future, whether it be a major metro or rural community, making sure that every company located in your region has a skilled, qualified workforce to fill their workforce needs must be at the center of everything you do. It is an imperative for economic growth. Issues surrounding talent are broad. What makes this challenge so difficult to solve is that there is no silver bullet or solution that works for everyone. Every community has different needs and must employ different strengths to meet those needs. Replacing a lost generation in Oklahoma City The talent challenges that face Oklahoma City go back to the late 1980s when a crash in the energy industry, and a subsequent banking crisis led to a generation of young Oklahoma City professionals leaving the region for work in other communities. The community spent the decade of the 1990s implementing a combination of quality-of-life improvement initiatives, as well as economic diversification programs to turn the economy around. Read the rest of the story on VeloCityOKC.com. This press release was produced by the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber. The views expressed here are the author's own.