TULSA, Okla. — It’s back to school and that means focusing on education that will soon lead students to future careers.
The Oklahoma Employment Security Commission is working to keep teens on the right track. Oklahoma’s unemployment rate currently sits at 3.5 percent.
“We typically see employment increase in the second half of the year as school's resume operations,” Trae Rahill, CEO of OESC said.
He adds education usually sees a big bump in employment, with universities and K-12 in session. Teen employment reduces slightly as summer jobs come to an end. However, many kids, 14-18 years of age, keep working.
“We found overall that around 50,000 teens are working in every quarter of the year, so while some stop working when school starts, a lot continue working.” Rahill said.
A lot of students are also looking to further their education and job skill set so they can find that perfect fit, whether it’s during the summer, a holiday break, or after graduation.
The OESC said it can help.
“We have a lot of opportunity to work more collaboratively with our agency, agencies like the department of commerce, working a lot closer with the K-12 system, the career tech system, so that there are not only awareness of those jobs and those industries for those kids, but there are sometimes tracks that can be created,” Rahill said.
He adds funding programs within schools, like a robotics program, gives kids hands on experience and a head start.
“We see in some schools around the state where they've been really deliberate about bringing those programs in,” Rahill said. “They're snapping together as these kids are going into high school to some of these college programs."
The OESC is meeting with universities to bring high school students to their campuses to experience career focused education, such as coding and drone operations for example.
The exposure helps fast track students to careers they may be interested in and not only sets the student up for success, but the labor market as well.
That’s not all the OESC is focusing on. It is holding a military hiring event Sept. 5 at Tulsa Tech Riverside campus to help veterans. Rahill said Veterans skill sets are transferable across all industries and employers are always looking for those qualities. The event helps connect the two.
OESC is also holding employer outreach seminars in various cities across Green Country in the fall. You can find that information along with hiring events at https://oklahoma.gov/oesc.html.
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