The Oklahoma Employment Security Commission (OESC) sends this information as posted below:
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – As 2024 comes to a close, the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission (OESC) looks back on a year marked by meaningful progress in workforce development, employer support, and technological enhancements. From helping Oklahomans impacted by severe weather events to empowering businesses through its Employer Outreach Seminar series, OESC has remained committed to meeting the evolving needs of Oklahoma’s workforce.
The State’s workforce development operations took significant steps forward in 2024. OESC was at the center of that progress, building strong partnerships across private and public sectors to form a more unified workforce delivery system. OESC’s new partnerships spanned State and Federal agencies, private businesses, lawmakers, chambers of commerce, local elected officials, and local workforce boards. Together this group has found common aim at improving funding effectiveness for and access to training programs, job placement services, and skills development initiatives for jobseekers.
“Workforce is a team sport,” said OESC CEO Trae Rahill when asked about his focus on working with partners, “and we’re honored to be on such an important team.”
One partnership between Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education (CareerTech) and OESC has enabled more advanced services and expanded training opportunities, using less funding than prior years. “There is so much opportunity to improve the way we educate and train people,” Rahill said, “and we need to be great at both to ensure Oklahoma’s workforce is ready for job market demands, particularly in high-growth industries.”
One impactful initiative of the year was the launch of OESC’s Employer Outreach Seminar series. These interactive seminars helped employers navigate the regulatory complexities of unemployment insurance, through FAQ presentations and open Q&A for employers to ask questions about their businesses. Held in more than a dozen cities across the state, these seminars provided valuable insights to employers by covering topics like workforce retention, compliance, and strategies for navigating unemployment taxation.
“The Employer Outreach series is critical to educating and hearing from Oklahoma employers. These relationships give us the data we need to better support their efforts to find great people in a competitive labor market,” said Rahill. “The better we serve our business community, the better we can serve people needing employment at large, and these efforts often are opportunities to strengthen operations and build a more resilient workforce.”
Additional improvements the agency made in 2024 were in the severe weather response space. OESC was called upon to assist employers and employees affected by natural disasters across dozens of counties. The team made impactful strides in strengthening its response through improved communication channels, streamlined unemployment insurance claim processes, and quicker disbursements of benefits. The U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) remarked after an audit that OESC’s preparedness efforts had improved a great deal since the pandemic and directly ensured that businesses could recover more rapidly from disruptions, minimizing impacts to the state’s citizens and economy.
Another employer-focused initiative that launched in 2024 was the Oklahoma Employer Alliance. This collaborative group of employers and workforce partners launched in the spring and continued to expand throughout the year, becoming an essential platform for sharing best practices, discussing challenges, and formulating solutions to state workforce issues. Guest speakers added a myriad of value with expert legal insights, cultural development consulting, and federal compliance deep dives. The Alliance will continue to meet the second Tuesday of every month at Central Technology Center in Sapulpa and broadcast to a statewide audience online.
Lastly, the agency continued its work to modernize its technology footprint through enhancing service delivery and operational efficiency. One example being its improvement to the unemployment insurance system. This key initiative allows for quicker processing of claims, improved user experience, and better fraud detection.
Solutions were also deployed to assist employers, such as enabling capabilities like being able to sign up for the receipt of certain notifications via text messaging and respond via mobile devices. For job seekers, a new tool launching in early 2025 will give them better access to available jobs and help connect employers to job seekers with greater ease and accuracy.
Teams have been diligently working on other improvements that will continue to be available as we move forward, including the modernization of our claim filing portal and a fully automated solution for new employers to apply for an Agency account while receiving all necessary information for successfully engaging with the Agency. We look forward to launching both of these in early 2025.
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