The rumor is 1500 jobs will be axed mostly at the HQ. Hopefully it's not that many but if it is that is a major blow that will negatively impact OKC especially downtown.
1500 white collar HQ jobs gone downtown will have a lot greater impact on the local economy, especially downtown, than the same amount of factory workers out by Tinker. Now, I do agree that it isn't the end of the world and OKC will be able to absorb it, but there will be some pain in the process.
Heard last night from someone who I would consider a pretty good source that the number will be at least 30% of their total work force but maybe up to 40%. He did say though that it will likely stay closer to 30%. That is second hand information so file that in the rumor mill. This person heard that from some higher ranking officers at Devon and does know a several of them pretty well. Again it may not be an accurate number, but does reinforce the idea that whatever cuts are made will be significant.
So, do they still need to build that new tower or nah? Nah.
Don't forget the 900 people that were let go by CHK in September (and 100+ SD people earlier as well). Their resumes are still floating around. We've interviewed one of the ex-employees, where I work (no relation to O&G industry), a few weeks back.
Also, who/what is going to absorb these losses? We're going thru a major rut in O&G at this point (with no silver lining in sight). If you add up all the past layoffs, the incoming Devon one, you're looking at around 2500* people in less than a year. This total combined equals quite a few of the largest employers we have in OKC: Greater Oklahoma City Economic Development - Major Employers
Rumor mill: https://www.thelayoff.com/devon-energy
*If DVN loses close to 1500 people.
It will have a larger impact on downtown than OKC as a whole. OKC desperately needs more of an employment base downtown that isn't in the energy sector.
Remember that through the '80s, there was still plenty of growth on the suburban fringe, even though downtown was practically finished off during the period (after its long decline). The 80s and the 90s were the golden age of the Putnam City area.
I don't think it will have as huge of impact as you think. I would bet that a large portio of the Devon workforce live in the suburbs and do not regularly stay downtown after work. They also likely don't eat out for lunch every single day. A lot come and go just like they would any other job.
If losing 1,400 jobs won't have a big negative impact why does the City and State offer millions, and sometimes hundreds of millions, in incentives to attract 1,400 jobs? Look how much the City spent on just 150 jobs for GE.
One thing we do know for sure - employee parking is about to get much easier. Not sure who is going to use those 2 new garages.
Also, I agree that downtown won't see much impact as well since most of the Devon employees arrive by car, eat lunch inside the building, go to the gym inside the building, get medical care inside the building, and then drive home to Edmond at 5PM. It will have a high personal cost to a lot of people, but Edmond will see a bigger negative impact than downtown will.
That is so super simplistic it is amazing.
Where has the city spent hundreds of millions to attract 1,400 jobs?
Devon may shrink a bit now, but will regain employees and grow again. I know you may be disappointed that the energy business is resilient, but it is. It has shrunk and grown over and over. You always pick just the time frames that suit your agenda.
From someone who actually knows people that work for Devon and interacts with them on a weekly basis, I can tell you that they bolded portion of your post isn't remotely true. Many of their employees go to restaurants outside of the building for lunch (why eat from the same three restaurants every day?), go to happy hour and eat dinner downtown after work, go to athletic activities at MBG at all times of the day, go to Thunder games afterwork, and even go to other gyms because "The Well" gets over crowded. Some employees may choose to come and go without leaving the building on a daily basis, but "most" is a major over generalization.
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