E C O N O M I C D E V E L O P M E N T
The Chamber leads business efforts to grow existing industries, recruit new companies and develop an active entrepreneurial environment, resulting in quality job creation and a diverse economy. D I VERS I FY ING THE LOCAL ECONOMY The Greater Oklahoma City region continued to see steady economic growth as companies the Chamber worked with announced 4,658 jobs new in 2019. However, total jobs added does not tell the whole story. These jobs average a projected wage of $69,561, well above the region’s average, and just under $1 billion in investment. This is double 2018’s estimated investment of $495 million. The list of growing companies is a good mix of local growth and new-to-market entries across a wide variety of sectors, further improving the diversity of our local economy. The metro is an ideal location for back office/shared service relocations and expansions due to the right balance of quality of life amenities, quality workforce and competitive business costs. TTEC is the latest national company to take advantage of what the Greater Oklahoma City market has to offer. In July, TTEC, a leading digital global customer experience technology and service company, announced they were opening offices in Oklahoma City. By the end of the year, they opened their new facility at the 7725 CONNECT complex. TTEC is bringing 350 new jobs to the region. The bioscience sector continues to be a vital driver of our local economy. Traditionally, the vast majority
of that growth comes from companies founded in Oklahoma City growing. However, 2019 saw an exciting locate as Aevus Precision Diagnostics announced Oklahoma City would be their home to build a team and develop their machine learning platform. Aevus is developing a prescription management tool to make treatment of Type 2 diabetes easier. They have entered into a partnership with the Harold Hamm Diabetes Center. Late in the year, food manufacturer Bakery Bling announced they would be relocating their headquarters to Oklahoma City. After an exhaustive search of other markets, Bakery Bling decided to move their headquarters from California to Oklahoma City because of available real estate and competitive businesses costs. The company will hire 300 people over the next five years at an average wage of $52,750.
BOOST ING THE RETA I L SECTOR
Retail development is also a critical aspect of the Chamber’s economic development efforts. The sales tax generated by retail funds vital city services like police, fire and road repair. 2019 saw several out- of-market, destination-retail projects come to fruition including the opening of the metro’s first Costco and the state’s first REI Co-op. Other new-to-market concepts that announced expansions to Oklahoma City were Bar-K, Bubba’s 33 and Chicken N Pickle. One of the biggest developments came from locally-owned Homeland when the grocery chain announced they will be constructing a full-service
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