ENID — A population that is fairly well-educated is key when a city is trying to recruit new businesses, an Oklahoma Department of Commerce official said Thursday.
Deidra Myers, division director of policy in research and development for ODOC, presented data Thursday to Enid Regional Development Alliance that showed the education level of the people in Garfield County is equal to or better than the state average.
“Companies now more than ever ... are concerned about how educated a work force is,” Myers said during ERDA’s annual meeting at Oakwood Country Club. Myers was keynote speaker for the meeting.
Myers presented the latest data from U.S. Census Bureau showing education, workforce and other demographic characteristics.
Rather than focus solely on Garfield County, Myers picked out a 12-county area surrounding and including Garfield County to highlight data.
The 12-county area is roughly west of Garfield County to Woods and Woodward counties, south to Dewey and Kingfisher counties and back up north to the state line.
Myers began by talking about the four most important things for any community to be economically successful: Land, capital, entrepreneurial spirit and labor.
Myers said the area certainly has that entrepreneurial spirit required for communities to be successful. She said the area also has a lot of land available for development.
Garfield County had 4.8 percent growth over the past decade, but the highest growing parts of the state were around the biggest cities, specifically Oklahoma City. Woodward also experienced strong growth.
“It’s a (result) of big job growth as well as oil and gas and wind,” Myers said.
On the subject of oil, gas and wind, Myers said the area needs to attract more energy companies to grow its economy.
“(Energy) is the item of the 21st century,” Myers said.
Myers said Texas is going to be the California of the 21st century. That means industries, especially related to energy, will explode in Texas much like a variety of industries expanded in California in the 1980s and ’90s.
She said Oklahoma, specifically the Garfield County area, needs to do what it can to capitalize on that situation.
When trying to figure out what drives a local economy, Myers said it is important a region keep in mind its fastest-growing demographic groups.
Blaine, Kingfisher and Woodward were the counties in the 12-county region with the fastest-growing Hispanic populations. In the entire area, the Hispanic population grew from 4.0 percent to 8.1 percent of the population from 2000 to 2010.
Myers also shared Enid’s work force commuting patterns. According to census data, 7,355 people travel into Enid to work, and another 7,000 people or so leave Enid to work elsewhere. About 16,000 stay in Enid to work.
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