2017 ECONOMIC SUMMARY WITH FORECASTS FOR 2018-2022
The Tulsa metropolitan statistical area (MSA) comprises Creek, Okmulgee, Osage, Pawnee, Rogers, Tulsa and Wagoner counties with a population estimated to be 987,248 or 25.1 percent of Oklahoma’s population.
The gross product or value of all goods and services produced in the seven-county area is an estimated $58.7 billion (2009 dollars), or 33.4 percent of the state’s economy.
Tulsa’s major industries are aerospace, including aerospace manufacturing and aviation; health care; energy; machinery; and transportation, distribution and logistics.
Several clusters, or companies that buy or sell to each other in the manufacture of goods for export, have disproportionately large concentrations of employment relative to the U.S. concentrations. These clusters are positioned to grow within the Tulsa MSA and include: Aerospace parts manufacturing, which is 1.4 times more concentrated in the Tulsa MSA than in the U.S.; oil and gas production; and machinery manufacturing, which is eight times more concentrated.
Tulsa’s concentration of fabricated metal-product manufacturing is 2.6 times the U.S. concentration, but its heat-exchanger manufacturing sub-cluster is 55 times more concentrated than at the U.S. level.
General qualities that attract new companies to grow these clusters and others to Tulsa are a sound infrastructure, a cost of doing business that is 11 percent below the U.S. average and a cost of living that is 8 percent below the U.S. average.
Tulsa’s infrastructure for business includes the Port of Catoosa, an inland port that makes bulk shipping to and from coastal ports accessible and economical, and two central networks for broadband interconnect. Plugging Tulsa’s target producers and service sectors into Tulsa’s formidable infrastructure requires a quality work force and Tulsa’s work force is known, and paid accordingly, for its productivity.
In 2017 Tulsa-area employment rose 1,200 jobs, or 0.3 percent, as oil prices increased 18 percent to $51 and employment began to stabilize after a loss of 3,100 jobs in 2016. Stable oil prices, a declining U.S. dollar and a growing global economy in 2017 set the stage for increased employment, albeit a small gain.
The area’s employment growth, at 0.3 percent, was half of Oklahoma’s growth while national employment grew at 1.6 percent. Tulsa’s real gross product grew 2.0 percent while Oklahoma and the U.S. grew at 3.9 percent and 2.3 percent, respectively. Despite the small gain in total employment, the Chamber was able to announce 4,897 jobs in new and expanding industries. Tulsa’s cost of doing business is 11 percent under the U.S. average due to low rent, energy costs and taxes. Due to the low cost of doing business, Tulsa will become a prime location for industry prospects looking to relocate or expand at a steady pace. In 2018, Tulsa’s gross product of goods and services should grow 7.1 percent to $62.9 billion. After growing only 0.3 percent in 2017, employment in 2018 will grow 2.6 percent as oil prices stabilize and average between $57 and $63 throughout 2018.
For more data, read the complete 2018 Tulsa Economic Profile.
