Oklahoma still among Oxfam’s worst states to work in 2024

OKLAHOMA CITY – Oxfam America has released its Best States to Work Index 2024 (BSWI) and the fourth edition of Best States for Working Women. While Oklahoma has improved since last year (ranked #44),  Oklahoma is still ranked low on the list at #36. 

As far as Working Women go, Oklahoma’s rank jumped up to #30 compared to last year at #32.

And, the author of the report pointed to Oklahoma’s minimum wage of $7.25 and concluded that it would only cover 20% of the cost of living for a family in Oklahoma.

Free Press also covered the same report last year.

All data included in this study is based on policies in effect as of July 1st, 2024.

The top rankings and bottom rankings are remarkably consistent. The top-ranking states have raised the minimum wage above federal levels while the lower half haven’t increased the minimum wage. The top five states also provide paid leave, ensure child labor protections, and have heat standards for outside workers.

The BSWI has three dimensions of policies that it ranks on a scale from zero to 100:

  • Wage policies.
  • Worker protection policies.
  • Right to organize policies.

Wage policies

The Wage Policies metric measures whether a given state’s workers receive a sufficient wage for the work they perform. The data points involved:

  • The ratio of the state minimum wage in relation to the cost of living for a family of four.
  • The ratio of a tipped minimum wage to the state minimum wage.
  • Whether or not the state allows localities to implement their own minimum wage laws.
  • Whether or not states include farm workers in their minimum wage.
  • How well average unemployment payments for minimum wage workers cover the cost of living for a family of four.

Oklahoma ranks #43 for wages with a score of 12.13.

The Oklahoma minimum wage is still $7.25, the same as last year. That’s only 19.9% of the cost of living for a family of four. The tipping wage in Oklahoma is also the same as last year: $2.13. That comes out to be 29.4% of the minimum wage. As for unemployment benefits, they cover about 11.2% of the cost of living.

Worker protection policies

This metric measures policies that support workers and working families inside and outside the workplace. It focuses on policies with a care economy in mind, such as caregivers and parents who are trying to balance work with life. These dimensions were included in this category:

  • Paid pumping breaks.
  • Equal pay mandate.
  • Paid family and medical leave.
  • Fair scheduling.
  • Protection against sexual harassment.
  • Extension of workers’ compensation to farm workers.
  • Protections for domestic workers.
  • Heat standards for outside workers.
  • Warehouse worker protections.
  • Child labor protections.

Oklahoma comes in at #26 for this dimension with a score of 33.33.

Right-to-organize policies

Starbucks workers
Oklahoma City Starbucks workers and supporters walk a picket line Dec. 18, 2022 on a half-day strike for what they believe to be unfair labor practices by Starbucks managers and the corporation (SBUX). (B.DICKERSON/Okla City Free Press)

Right-to-organize policies outline the support states give to workers trying to organize to form a union, such as whether the state is a right-to-work state or not. The policies tracked are:

  • Right-to-work laws.
  • Right to organize for public school teachers.
  • Project labor agreements (PLAs): agreements that stipulate that contracts for public construction projects must go exclusively to unionized firms.
  • Protection against retaliation.
  • Protection for collective bargaining.

Oklahoma ranks #30 in the Right to Organize category with a score of 30.

Working women

The report says it best:

“Although the BSWI has always placed an emphasis on the experience of women in the workplace and has included many policies that directly or disproportionately impact women (e.g., equal pay, or paid breaks for pumping), we pulled out specific policies to provide a separate index to cover women at work.”

The Best States for Working Women Index (BSWW) focuses on data points such as tipping wages where jobs are overwhelmingly comprised of women, and paid leave.

Oklahoma scored 38.84 in the BSWW index ranking the state at #30.

Oxfam’s author of the report

Free Press spoke to the author and lead researcher of the 2024 BSWI and the BSWW, Dr. Kaitlyn Henderson by phone Thursday.

She also works with two other researchers and a policy expert who help craft policy recommendations.

Oxfam
Dr. Kaitlyn Henderson, lead researcher for Oxfam America. (provided)

“We have had several states use this index to celebrate recent policy accomplishments,” said Henderson. “We certainly have had Congressional representatives use this index to demonstrate a suite of policies they’d like to invest in. We’ve worked with policymakers at the local, state, and federal level to help craft policy agenda.”

Understanding the importance of her work, Henderson explained, “I think this is a great opportunity to capture a lot of different policies that are discussed individually, or in a vacuum.”

She thinks this is a great way to put a bunch of different policies and ideas together to “look at a more holistic picture of the type of labor landscape that we’d love to see” at the state and federal levels.

“Often we see really in-depth conversations on just the wages, or just the right to organize, or just policies like paid leave,” said Henderson. “This is an opportunity to see what could the full landscape look like if we were really to invest in low-wage workers and families.”

Importance of minimum wage

Asked about Oklahoma specifically, Henderson said, “If we’re really thinking about low-wage workers and working families, one of the easiest policies to change that has a very immediate difference on people’s lives is minimum wages.”

“Oklahoma relies on the federal standard to set the minimum wage, and one of the things we specifically look at in the index is not just what is the minimum wage, but how far the minimum wage goes to cover the cost of living for a family. And in Oklahoma, $7.25 covers less than 20% of the cost of living for a family, so if there was one policy that Oklahoma policymakers could change tomorrow that would have an immediate difference, I think the minimum wage is an easy one,” she said.

An extra policy she recommends Oklahoma invest in is paid leave for workers.

“One other policy I would choose is paid leave. Paid medical leave or sick leave. The ability to miss work for a day because your child is sick should not mean you should have to miss a paycheck,” she explained.

Paid leave is also one of the working conditions that would massively improve work life for women, according to the report.

Henderson also said that the passing of SQ 832 would overwhelmingly improve the labor landscape in Oklahoma.

Henderson said, “That would make a huge difference. A couple of years ago there was a ballot initiative that raised their minimum wage, and it didn’t raise it to fifteen, it raised it to twelve. But it made a big difference…the minimum wage makes a really big difference. So if we see a higher minimum wage in Oklahoma, it would  really bump their ranking in this index.”

Just recently, SQ 832 got twice the required signatures to be placed on a ballot.
Also, here’s the link to this year’s report.


Author Profile

Alex Gatley covers labor activities in the state of Oklahoma.