Status quo approach won't help Oklahoma shrink education gap

The report shows Oklahoma City with the second-lowest unemployment rate of the nation's 100 metro areas, based on data from May. Tulsa ranked sixth. That's the good news.

The bad news — actually, it's just not-so-good news — is that both cities were much farther down the rankings in the “education gap” category. The gap reflects the average years of education required by a city's average job vacancy compared with the average level of education attainment by the city's average working-age person.

Oklahoma City ranked 27th, Tulsa ranked 33rd.

The supply of educated workers compared with the demand is a real issue. The report showed that in Oklahoma City, more than 34 percent of all jobs require a bachelor's degree or higher level of education. Yet only 27.6 percent of all potential workers have that level of education. Fewer than 18 percent of unemployed workers have a bachelor's degree. The study also shows the demand for workers in Oklahoma City with a high school diploma is lower than the supply. Similar gaps exist in Tulsa.

For years, there's been talk and plans put in place to increase the number of college graduates in Oklahoma. But that's not the only takeaway from this report or recent comments from a visiting speaker who talked about education as an economic growth tool.

If Oklahoma continues to lag behind the nation in educational attainment, the struggle to grow our state's economy will only get more difficult. Employers aren't as likely to relocate or plan growth in a state without an adequate supply of highly educated workers.