NewsOK (http://www.newsok.com/call-center-near-yukon-hiring-500-agents-supervisors/article/3459326?custom_click=headlines_widget)

More good news for Okla.

Another call center.

Woo.

Wasn't some people looking to create Okc nicknames? The Big Friendly, was one.

How about the The Big Call Center, or Call Center City?

Either way it's 500 jobs and moving into a huge mostly vacant building.

Oklahoma City... "hold please."

Oklahoma City... "hold please."

Very funny, I can see the T-Shirts now.

I bet the 500 people who need jobs will be plenty happy to get one in a call center. That's 500 people back to work. Lets not be snobs.

Your right mug, I spent some time working in a call center once too.

I bet the 500 people who need jobs will be plenty happy to get one in a call center. That's 500 people back to work. Lets not be snobs.

No kidding. Geez. There are a lot of people who will get their first jobs or unemployment relief from call center jobs. And it's not as if call centers and high-quality jobs are mutually exclusive.

I bet the 500 people who need jobs will be plenty happy to get one in a call center. That's 500 people back to work. Lets not be snobs.

That's a good point. They are decent paying jobs with benefits. I would rather be getting this announcement than the slow death by paper cuts news Tulsa gets every week.

Jacksonville parlayed an abundance of call center jobs into an NFL team.

Three of my family members work for Hertz and two have been there for decades.

I bet there will be a long line applying for jobs at this new site.

It sure beats the jobs being created in India instead.

Jacksonville parlayed an abundance of call center jobs into an NFL team.

And how did that one ever turn out?

I get the impression that the new toilet paper factory will have higher wages than this place, if the article mentions that "most of the jobs will be above minimum wage."

And how did that one ever turn out?

I get the impression that the new toilet paper factory will have higher wages than this place, if the article mentions that "most of the jobs will be above minimum wage."

The jobs aren't meant for MBA's Spartan. Call center jobs are ideal for part-timers, mom's/dad's of kids in school, students in college who need a PT job, etc. It's not to be the career of choice for most just like flipping burgers at McDonalds isn't the career of choice for most. Hey, if someone wanted to open a new toilet paper factory here, all the better.

Not all call center jobs pay is bad. Seagate (Right down the road) starts their employees at $16.15 an hour. While not great thats not bad for entry level work.

May not make as much money as a doctor, engineer, college professor, governor, director of OKDHS, or OKC city manager...but hey, it will put food on the table.

May not make as much money as a doctor, engineer, college professor, governor, director of OKDHS, or OKC city manager...but hey, it will put food on the table.

So many people forget this part. Just because your world is roses, doesn't mean everyone has it good right now. I see it as 500 fewer people out of work. More income taxes into budget. So on and so forth.

yeah, theres a lot of call centers here. at one time we had so many: at&t, west, sprint, convergys,hertz, seagate, cingular (before they merged), the hartford, williams sonoma, aol, cit mortgage,american cancer society, mazzios, farmers insurance, young america, century martial arts , and one off of hwy 9 in norman close to the post office that i cant recall name of.

I bet the 500 people who need jobs will be plenty happy to get one in a call center. That's 500 people back to work. Lets not be snobs.

Amen. New jobs are scarce.

It sure beats the jobs being created in India instead.

(in my best arabic impression)...yeesss, hello and tank youse for calling my name is Farheed Abdullahjarrahfarji, but you may call me Jason for short. Yessss I have youse account accessed here, and Im sorry but I can not gib youse a credit por pipteen cents.

(in my best arabic impression)...yeesss, hello and tank youse for calling my name is Farheed Abdullahjarrahfarji, but you may call me Jason for short. Yessss I have youse account accessed here, and Im sorry but I can not gib youse a credit por pipteen cents.

http://www.creepygif.com/images/full/10.gif

i bet the 500 people who need jobs will be plenty happy to get one in a call center. That's 500 people back to work. Lets not be snobs.

totally agree. I know many people who would love to have a decent paying job!!! Please do not take for granted any job that helps people maintain dignity and provide for themselves and their families

Oklahoma City... "hold please."

OMG LMAO.... that's the best thing that ever happened to me.

http://www.creepygif.com/images/full/10.gif

Fail. And fail on rolling your eyes at new jobs.

Seagate (Right down the road) starts their employees at $16.15 an hour. While not great thats not bad for entry level work.

Ha! I get $10/hour at one of my jobs and it requires a degree. I'd say $16.95 is pretty effing great considering a GED is all you need.

Very funny, I can see the T-Shirts now.

I'll buy one

Ha! I get $10/hour at one of my jobs and it requires a degree. I'd say $16.95 is pretty effing great considering a GED is all you need.

If people are willing to put up with the stress of a call center, you can find some decently paying jobs out there. Ones that offer a starting pay pretty high when compared to some that require degrees.

Call center jobs are not for everyone, but if you are good at it and we have enough people that are good at it, I say bring on the jobs!

$16.50 isn't bad.

We own factories in LA and starting wages are around $15. This is cleaner and higher paid. Why do people make fun of it?

I am blessed to have a well paying position. If I didn't have, I would be blessed to be able to work at a job for $16.50 vs no job and a starving family.

I am glad this opportunity for 500 people is coming to the area. EVERYONE needs a job.

If people are willing to put up with the stress of a call center, you can find some decently paying jobs out there. Ones that offer a starting pay pretty high when compared to some that require degrees.

venture isnt joking, ive known various peeps who have worked at various call centers for many years, and for the most part one thing seems consistent: excellent benefits/perks/bonuses/etc.

i guess they do need some way to compensate for the fact that it can be stress enduring, just the fact youre taking back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back calls all shift long is stressful enough..and thats even assuming all your callers are nice to you.

Oklahoma City... "hold please."

lol I love it. I might need to make some t shirts!

Any new jobs for the OKC is great! It would be nice that OKC Chamber of Commerce or State officials could lure more white collar jobs and HQ. This would allow for better grocery options and higher end stores to locate in the city. Here is a example of another "possible" corporate relocation for Big D. Why can't OKC attract these jobs?




MoneyGram considers moving HQ to Texas or Colorado | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Dallas Business News (http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/DN-MoneyGram_08bus.ART.State.Edition1.38cf6b1.html)

^^ I would like to see the process that Okc Chamber uses when selling our city to possible corporations for relocation or expansion.

Not saying I am an expert in this category at all, but it would be interesting to evaluate this process as a concerned citizen of Okc.

Here is a example of another "possible" corporate relocation for Big D. Why can't OKC attract these jobs?

"The Dallas-Fort Worth area may be a contender to win the company's headquarters, given the local ties of newly appointed executives.

Pamela Patsley, who has served as chairwoman and chief executive since September, lives in Dallas."

Oklahoma City is currently sitting at 6.1% unemployment rate: Unemployment Rates for Metropolitan Areas (http://www.bls.gov/web/metro/laummtrk.htm)

Although that is better than most metro areas, it is still not close enough to full employment. Perhaps when we get closer to 2-3% unemployment rate, we can justify complaining about the quality of employers and jobs the city is attracting. I'm sure most any of the cities on that list would gladly welcome these 500 jobs.

I certainly would prefer that the city were attracting more jobs requiring degrees, but at this point, most any new job of higher-than-minium-wage is going to help raise the quality of life in this city. There will always be a need for minimum wage positions to be filled... that's unavoidable. I would prefer more of those minimum wage positions be filled with teenagers and college students. Positions like these call-center jobs allow many adults without degrees to move up from their minimum wage positions, freeing up those jobs to be filled by more students. That means more disposable income and more tax dollars.

Sure, these jobs won't attract new residents from out of state, but I don't see anything wrong with improving the quality of life of existing residents. If we start losing high quality jobs because we're bringing in call centers, then we should bring out the pitchforks and torches. I don't think that's happening yet.

Oklahoma City is currently sitting at 6.1% unemployment rate: Unemployment Rates for Metropolitan Areas (http://www.bls.gov/web/metro/laummtrk.htm)

Although that is better than most metro areas, it is still not close enough to full employment. Perhaps when we get closer to 2-3% unemployment rate, we can justify complaining about the quality of employers and jobs the city is attracting. I'm sure most any of the cities on that list would gladly welcome these 500 jobs.

I certainly would prefer that the city were attracting more jobs requiring degrees, but at this point, most any new job of higher-than-minium-wage is going to help raise the quality of life in this city. There will always be a need for minimum wage positions to be filled... that's unavoidable. I would prefer more of those minimum wage positions be filled with teenagers and college students. Positions like these call-center jobs allow many adults without degrees to move up from their minimum wage positions, freeing up those jobs to be filled by more students. That means more disposable income and more tax dollars.

Sure, these jobs won't attract new residents from out of state, but I don't see anything wrong with improving the quality of life of existing residents. If we start losing high quality jobs because we're bringing in call centers, then we should bring out the pitchforks and torches. I don't think that's happening yet. The biggest problem I see is that OKC needs to be much more diversified than in it's current state. I believe call centers serve a purpose and most of them pay higher than minimum wage,however I believe in the "long term spectrum of things" what will truely make OKC a much more successful city is HQ's moving in and establishing roots here. This will bring more diversity to the city and white collar jobs tend to attract higher incomes and people with higher disposable incomes. The media and city leaders are always stating OKC is a "big league city". While OKC is on it's way, it still needs a much more diverse employment sector and that includes other industries besides oil and gas. Big league cities are diversified with jobs, and different diverse people that include outsiders "not just existing residents". Finally, "some" posters on OKC talk tend to take the opinion that OKC does not need to do this and that home grown companies are what will be OKC salvation? To me,this is not being aggressive enough for OKC.

Low paying jobs are really not much better than no jobs. If folks are paid close to minimum wage, they're still eligible for social services and it's up to us to subsidize the low wages those employers pay.

$16.50 to start at a call center isn't exactly low paying Mid, maybe for a lawyer, but not for someone flipping burgers/jobless or whatever they were doing prior.

My first IT job out of college paid less than $15 per hour, and it took me several months after graduation to even land that one. This was back in 2002. While I knew I could do better, it was more than enough to keep me from resorting to government assistance until I was able to move on to a better position. Anything greater than $10 an hour can be enough to get people off of government assistance (or keep them off), especially if supplemented by a second income. You have to take into account dual wage earner households as well as single parties holding multiple jobs. I'm not certainly not advocating lower wage jobs in place of high wage jobs; I'm just acknowledging that jobs of varying wages are needed to have a stable economy.

Low paying jobs are really not much better than no jobs. If folks are paid close to minimum wage, they're still eligible for social services and it's up to us to subsidize the low wages those employers pay.

Mid, this is a "not looking past the end of your nose" statement. People who are not working and are on unemployment, welfare, food stamps, etc. are using up your tax money. People who are working at $16.50 an hour are not. Add up 500 people and you are talking about significant money. $16.50 per hour is significantly above minimum wage - sure, its not a fortune but as we've said numerous times on here, no everyone aspires to be a lawyer or a stock broker. Some people just want a job while their kids go to school or a job to help support them through college.

Any new jobs for the OKC is great! It would be nice that OKC Chamber of Commerce or State officials could lure more white collar jobs and HQ. This would allow for better grocery options and higher end stores to locate in the city. Here is a example of another "possible" corporate relocation for Big D. Why can't OKC attract these jobs?

MoneyGram considers moving HQ to Texas or Colorado | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Dallas Business News (http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/DN-MoneyGram_08bus.ART.State.Edition1.38cf6b1.html)

Moneygram will move to Dallas and be out of business within 2 years.

Oklahoma City is currently sitting at 6.1% unemployment rate: Unemployment Rates for Metropolitan Areas (http://www.bls.gov/web/metro/laummtrk.htm)

Although that is better than most metro areas, it is still not close enough to full employment. Perhaps when we get closer to 2-3% unemployment rate, we can justify complaining about the quality of employers and jobs the city is attracting. I'm sure most any of the cities on that list would gladly welcome these 500 jobs.

I certainly would prefer that the city were attracting more jobs requiring degrees, but at this point, most any new job of higher-than-minium-wage is going to help raise the quality of life in this city. There will always be a need for minimum wage positions to be filled... that's unavoidable. I would prefer more of those minimum wage positions be filled with teenagers and college students. Positions like these call-center jobs allow many adults without degrees to move up from their minimum wage positions, freeing up those jobs to be filled by more students. That means more disposable income and more tax dollars.

Sure, these jobs won't attract new residents from out of state, but I don't see anything wrong with improving the quality of life of existing residents. If we start losing high quality jobs because we're bringing in call centers, then we should bring out the pitchforks and torches. I don't think that's happening yet.

Dude,

5% unemployment is considered full employment.

Dude,

5% unemployment is considered full employment.

Agreed, 4-5% and you start to see upwards pressure on wages.

Dude,

5% unemployment is considered full employment.

That depends on whose economic model you subscribe to. The full employment rate varies amongst economists. I recall being taught 3% as the full employment rate (this would have been in 1996-1997). I don't claim to be an economist, so I won't bother arguing any further on it.

That depends on whose economic model you subscribe to. The full employment rate varies amongst economists. I recall being taught 3% as the full employment rate (this would have been in 1996-1997). I don't claim to be an economist, so I won't bother arguing any further on it.

You are correct, the number can vary depending on various factors.

Its a very complicated equation with many variables and it's a gradual process - kind of like the weather forecasting models. It has to do with the velocity at which people are changing jobs, the growth rate in the economy, how many of those are really looking for work and not trying to play the "looking" game so they can continue to get unemployment compensation, etc, etc. For example, right now, our economy isn't growing very fast and people aren't highly mobile moving from one job to another the way they were 3 years ago. So today, full employment would probably be a lower figure (more like 3%) where 3 years ago it was probably more like 5%.

The point is that if you every hear a politiican complain because "5% of the American people are still without jobs," accept that the politician is either grandstanding or economically clueless because for economic growth to be maintained, a supply of available labor must be present.

It's not so much that there are nothing but call centers locating here... huge corporations have opened up shop here in recent years and hardly been noticed. Others have been here for a very long time and added hundreds to the payrolls without any fanfare.

I think what it boils down to is this: call centers need lots of employees applying for jobs because they have high turnover. So they make sure and make a big deal out of opening a new call center and carefully craft their own press releases, which major newspapers then just eat up and publish without a hint of a second thought. It's a bit self-serving and brain dead, but from the media's standpoint they get an article to publish that is of interest to people, and from the corporations standpoint they get what amounts to very good free advertising that may help them attract an employee base. It isn't that we're the Bangalore of America, I think it's just cynical PR'ism run amok.