OKPOLICY.ORG
On March 6, 2020, Oklahoma reported its first confirmed case of COVID-19 and declared a statewide emergency 10 days later. As the pandemic now enters its third year, Oklahomans continue grappling with the impact of lives lost and the immense disruptions it has created. OK Policy will be reflecting on the COVID-19 pandemic’s impacts and challenges. Our hope is that this will highlight opportunities for collaborative decision-making, future improvements, and prosperity for all Oklahomans.
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Oklahoma’s legislature has the power to create an equitable and more robust economic recovery in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic by pursuing investments that simultaneously promote growth and equity. To do this, our elected officials must resist the urge to focus solely on high-level metrics of economic well-being. While macroeconomic indicators such as Gross Domestic Product (the size of an economy) and the unemployment rate (the percentage of people who want work but can’t find it) are useful for measuring the overall health of an economy, they conceal inequalities and long-standing structural challenges that hurt many Oklahomans’ ability to provide for themselves and participate in our economy.
To address long-term economic problems and promote an equitable recovery, Oklahoma’s legislature should invest in our workforce
Economic growth and equity do not have to be mutually exclusive. Many policies that make our economy fairer and more supportive of workers — particularly low-income workers — also help to fuel economic growth. In short, investments in our workforce are an investment in our economy as a whole.
Expanding access to child care, such as by increasing subsidies to parents and reimbursing child care providers based on enrollment, has been shown to increase labor force participation rates. Policies like increasing the value of the Earned Income Tax Credit and implementing a state paid family and medical leave program help incentivize workers to join or remain in the workforce while also boosting labor force participation. Restoring our state’s investment in higher education would help improve Oklahoma’s status as a low-wage state and increase worker productivity.
Programs that increase the resources and opportunities available to Oklahomans help families directly and foster a healthier, more resilient state economy. Oklahoma’s policymakers should resist the urge to center our economic growth solely around high-level metrics like GDP and unemployment rates. While these metrics are useful pictures of the overall economy, they are not the only necessary metrics of economic health; additionally, these measures can mask inequalities that leave some Oklahomans behind if the data is not closely examined for impacts among its component demographic groups, a process known as disaggregating the data. The focus of an inclusive economic recovery will be to create an economy that uplifts all Oklahomans.
Oklahoma’s economy is recovering remarkably well, but this recovery has not been not equally rosy for everyone
In many metrics, Oklahoma’s economy has enjoyed a spectacular recovery in the wake of the COVID-19 recession. Our state GDP has recovered to pre-pandemic levels and is increasing. Total employment has followed the same pattern, and our unemployment rate is at a historic low.
However, these high-level measures mask some stark inequalities, proving that not everyone has benefited equally in the economy’s overall recovery. Unemployment remains comparatively high for Black, Latinx, and American Indian communities, both in Oklahoma and nationally. Black women, in particular, have been severely impacted. The current employment-to-population ratio for Black women in Oklahoma, when compared with pre-pandemic levels, shows a decline of more than two times the rate for all other women in Oklahoma.
Gender and racial inequalities present even before the pandemic continue to require attention. During the past 40 years, Black and Latinx workers have experienced considerably less real wage growth compared to white workers. Women’s labor force participation still considerably lags behind men’s, and there are racial disparities present in labor force participation as well.
Addressing these entrenched economic inequalities will inevitably take time and resources on the part of our state government but will benefit our economy and state as a whole. For instance, if women’s labor force participation rate were increased to equal men’s participation rate, there would be 99,000 additional workers in Oklahoma and an increase of $3.7 billion in wages earned statewide.
Long-term impacts of COVID-19 may be suppressing Oklahomans’ labor force participation
Oklahoma’s labor force participation rate (the percentage of the working-age population either working or looking for work) has almost always lagged behind the national average, and labor force participation has been declining in both the state and the country as a whole. This trend has troubling implications for essential public services provided by our state government as well as the long-term health of our economy. Fewer people working means lower tax collections for our state government. This would require legislators to either raise taxes to maintain spending levels or further diminish Oklahoma’s already-dwindling investment in its citizens and the shared services upon which all Oklahomans rely.
While much of this decline is due to our aging population, other causes include family dynamics and worker health. Having to care for a house or family is a significant reason why people are staying out of the labor force, a factor that is likely exacerbated by COVID-related child care center closures and accounts for an estimated 15 percent of adults not looking for work. Workers dealing with “long COVID,” where debilitating COVID symptoms last for months, may also be a factor depressing labor force participation. A Brookings Institute study estimated that temporary disability from long COVID could account for 15 percent or more of unfilled jobs nationally. Creating a state paid family and medical leave program, which would allow workers to take paid time off work to care for their or their families’ serious health conditions, would allow these groups of workers to return to the labor force knowing that their health and families are secure.
Workforce investments are needed to ensure an equitable recovery and protect the long-term health of our economy
For the sake of both fairness and the long-term health of our state economy, Oklahoma’s legislature should work to ensure that all Oklahomans recover from the COVID-19 recession. A necessary first step in this process is to pursue proven investments in our workforce. Unfortunately, lawmakers have already forfeited multiple opportunities for investment this legislative session. Senate Bill 1849 and SB 1502, for instance, would have helped improve access to and the affordability of child care for low-income families. House Bill 1615 and HB 2456 each would have created a state paid family and medical leave program. These kinds of investments are necessary to support Oklahomans, who will, in turn, support our economy.
Productive, financially stable Oklahomans make for a productive, stable economy. Oklahoma’s elected officials and policymakers have ample opportunity to bolster our productivity and stability by ensuring a more equitable, more robust economic recovery. In future legislative sessions, our lawmakers should seize upon these opportunities available to them to create a state economy that works for all Oklahomans.
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On March 6, 2020, Oklahoma reported its first confirmed case of COVID-19 and declared a statewide emergency 10 days later. As the pandemic now enters its third year, Oklahomans continue grappling with the impact of lives lost and the immense disruptions it has created. OK Policy will be reflecting on the COVID-19 pandemic’s impacts and challenges. Our hope is that this will highlight opportunities for collaborative decision-making, future improvements, and prosperity for all Oklahomans.
