Recent Articles

How we measure poverty matters — and a proposed change would make it worse

Last year, 621,076 Oklahomans were living in poverty according to official estimates - that's 15.8 percent, or one out of every six, of us. The Trump Administration has recently proposed a plan to adjust the way we measure poverty, but these changes would not make the measure more accurate. [More...]

Women still earn less than men, and it’s putting them at risk of living in poverty

Poverty in Oklahoma is consistently above the national average, but what you may not have noticed is the fact that women are more likely to experience poverty than men. Seventeen percent of women in Oklahoma live below the poverty line, compared to just 14.5 percent of men. In a time when families depend more than ever on women's wages, this is a troubling trend. [More...]

Occupational licenses could soon be within reach for more Oklahomans

Nearly 30 percent of the American workforce needs a license to do their job, so we should carefully examine the rules about who can, and can’t, get an occupational license. This is especially important for the justice-involved, a group that faces multiple barriers (including licensing restrictions) to employment and economic stability.  [More...]

Intern with us this summer!

Oklahoma-Policy-Institute-Blog-Spring-2020-Internship OK Policy is now accepting applications for paid, part-time or full-time internships in our Tulsa office during the Summer 2019 semester! We have two types of internships available - the Public Policy Internship and the Open Justice Oklahoma Data Internship. If you’re looking to be part of a team that’s fighting to make Oklahoma better for all Oklahomans, this might be the place for you. The deadline to apply is Sunday, April 21st. [More...]

Rules to protect payday loan customers are under attack…again

In the fall of 2017, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued new rules to protect payday loan customers from some of the most harmful practices in that industry. But now the same federal agency that issued the rule has announced plans to scrap important provisions of it, leaving many consumers unprotected. The good news is that this proposal to roll back the payday rule is still just a proposal. Before this proposal can be finalized, the agency must first allow for public comments, and you can easily submit one. [More...]

Restoring the Earned Income Tax Credit is a must this session

In Oklahoma’s tax code, there are multiple tax breaks for high-income individuals and businesses. But just three tax credits are targeted at low-income Oklahomans, and one of those -  the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) – was slashed in 2016 to help balance the books during a severe budget crisis. This cut resulted in more than 200,000 Oklahoma families losing some, or all, of the value of their EITC. Statewide, low and middle-income working families lost nearly $28 million due to the cut. That’s an average of $121 per family, and many low-wage families lost even more. [More...]

Bill Watch: Opportunities to make Oklahomans better off economically this session

This session, the Legislature will have several opportunities to improve the lives of hard-working Oklahomans and their families. Legislators have filed bills to create second chances for the justice-involved, make sure workers have paid time off to care for their own health and the health of their loved ones, and restore the full value of the Earned Income Tax Credit. All of these would be great steps toward creating an Oklahoma that appropriately values and fairly rewards the labor of its citizens. [More...]

New economic rankings show Oklahoma falling further behind

There are quite a few reasons to be optimistic about Oklahoma this year. Unemployment is low and the state expects to have a budget surplus this year, the first in quite some time. But despite this good news, too many Oklahomans are still struggling to make ends meet and build a better future for themselves and their families. For the third straight year, Oklahoma has dropped in the Prosperity Now Scorecard rankings. This year, we rank 43rd in the financial health and overall well-being of our residents - that's down from 34th in 2016. [More...]

No family should be punished for accepting help when they need it

UPDATE (8/12/19): This week the Trump Administration is expected to submit a final rule on public charge that is set to take effect in 60 days. The Department of Homeland Security noted that, “While some commenters provided support for the… Read more [More...]

Oklahoma Poverty Profile

[Download the 2017 Poverty Profile as a PDF Fact Sheet] 621,076 Oklahomans had incomes below the poverty level in 2017. That’s 15.8 percent of Oklahoma’s population, or about 1 out of every 6 Oklahomans. The poverty rate in Oklahoma continues… Read more [More...]