Oklahoma Keeps College Graduates but Struggles to Attract Talent

Oklahoma Keeps Homegrown College Talent but Struggles to Attract Graduates From Other States

Oklahoma is highly successful at keeping homegrown college-educated workers, but new research shows the state continues to struggle to attract educated workers from elsewhere.

A new Strada Education Foundation study found more than two-thirds of Oklahoma's college-educated workforce attended both high school and college in the state. Nationally, about 55% of college-educated workers are considered homegrown.

The numbers change dramatically when looking at workers moving into Oklahoma. Just 5% of Oklahoma's college-educated workforce moved to the state for college and remained after graduation, compared with 9% nationally. Another 17% moved to Oklahoma after graduating from college elsewhere, below the national average of 24%.

Oklahoma College-Educated Workforce Relies Heavily on Homegrown Talent

The new findings come from the Strada Education Foundation's Talent in Motion report, which examines where college-educated workers attended high school and college and where they eventually entered the workforce.

The Strada Education Foundation Talent in Motion report found that 55% of the nation's college-educated workforce lives and works in the same state where workers completed both high school and college. Oklahoma is among the states with an above-average share of homegrown talent.

That strong retention provides Oklahoma employers with a dependable local talent pipeline, but it also makes the state's economy particularly dependent on its own K-12 schools, colleges and universities to produce future workers.

The Strada research found only 5% of Oklahoma's college-educated workforce came to the state for college and stayed to work, compared with 9% nationally.

Another 17% moved to Oklahoma after completing college elsewhere, compared with a national average of 24%.

The study also found only about 24% of Oklahoma's workforce has attained a bachelor's degree, roughly 10 percentage points below the national average.

Oklahoma Higher Education Graduates Show Strong In-State Retention

Separate state data reinforces just how important Oklahoma's own higher education system is to the workforce.

The Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education reports 91.5% of Oklahoma resident graduates from public colleges and universities were working in the state one year after graduation in its latest employment outcomes data.

Retention is also strong in fields considered critical to Oklahoma's economy.

Nearly 89% of resident undergraduate STEM graduates were working in Oklahoma one year after graduation. Among nursing graduates at all degree levels, more than 94% were employed in Oklahoma after one year, and more than 86% remained in the state five years later.

The State Regents also found more than half of non-resident undergraduates who graduate from Oklahoma public colleges and universities remain in the state to work one year after graduation.

Those numbers suggest Oklahoma's colleges are effective at retaining many students once they graduate, while the broader challenge is attracting enough college-educated people into Oklahoma in the first place.

Oklahoma Workforce Challenges Put Focus on College Access and Recruitment

The Oklahoma college-educated workforce findings could become increasingly important as state leaders look for ways to grow the economy and fill jobs requiring advanced education.

Strada researchers say highly educated populations help support economic growth, making the source of a state's college-educated workforce important when lawmakers consider investments in education and workforce development.

Oklahoma is already considering changes designed to make earning a degree faster and potentially less expensive.

The University of Oklahoma announced in June that proposed three-year bachelor's degree programs were moving through the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education review process. The programs would use a 90-credit-hour model while maintaining academic and accreditation requirements.

For Oklahoma, the new workforce data points to two different challenges.

The state must continue producing and retaining homegrown college graduates, particularly in high-demand fields such as nursing, engineering, education and STEM. At the same time, Oklahoma faces a larger competitive challenge in persuading college-educated workers from other states to move here.

With more than two-thirds of Oklahoma's college-educated workforce coming through the state's own schools, the strength of that education pipeline remains closely connected to the state's long-term workforce and economic growth.

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