So where do jobs come from? To save us all the boredom of a basic economics lesson, let me jump straight into a complicated graph. Below we have the number of jobs in Oklahoma by year, spanning from 1992 to 2008. The jobs are broken up into size and type of firm. At the very bottom, we have the self-employed followed by various stages of business. Each business stage is determined by number of employees. Stage 1 businesses have between 2-9 employees. Stage 2 businesses have between 10-99 employees and so on. The non-resident stage is businesses with locations and/or employees in Oklahoma but with headquarters outside the state of Oklahoma.
So who creates the most jobs? Small businesses? Bigger corporations? The lime green line at the top signifies Stage 2 businesses (those with 10-99 employees) create the most jobs in the state, followed by Stage 1 businesses (those with 2-9 employees). Nonresident companies launched to the top around 2001 but took a sharp dive after that, landing them in third place for number of jobs.
How do these results fit in with your perceptions? Are you rooting for your community to host the next Google facility, large manufacturing plant or mega big box superstore? These are great ideas but our support also needs to be given to the smaller businesses - as the data shows - they create the most jobs in Oklahoma. I'd be interested to do this same analysis for Texas and Massachusetts. Perhaps I could help Romney and Perry settle their argument :)
