A new statewide survey of 401 Oklahoma business owners and executives paints a cautiously sunny picture of the local economy. According to the poll, 64% say the state is moving in the right direction compared with the national economy, and 81% plan to hire in the coming year. Yet three in four business leaders put workforce and education among their top-two concerns, a tension that could shape hiring and investment decisions through 2026.
Chamber leaders are treating the findings as a flashing yellow light rather than a victory lap. Chad Warmington, president and CEO of The State Chamber, told KOKH that "Oklahoma’s business community is sending a clear message: the state has momentum, but execution matters." Other chamber officials told the station that employers want practical, targeted investments to strengthen the hiring pipeline and support expansion.
The results come from the 2026 Oklahoma Business Leaders Poll, a collaborative project of The State Chamber, the Oklahoma Business Roundtable and the State Chamber Research Foundation that surveyed leaders in early spring 2026. The poll found 74% of respondents named workforce and education as a top-two issue, 59% said Oklahoma’s physical infrastructure lags competitor states, and nearly 60% preferred investing surplus funds in public priorities rather than returning the money through tax cuts, according to the 2026 Oklahoma Business Leaders Poll.
Workforce Tops The List
Business leaders repeatedly pointed to recruitment and retention as the single greatest obstacle to profitability, highlighting gaps in early reading, career-tech pathways and childcare that limit labor-force participation. That anxiety sits alongside broader indicators showing hiring has cooled statewide. The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City reported a hiring slowdown in February and said firms cite demand-side factors even as unemployment stays low, the Kansas City Fed noted. Oklahoma State University economists have also warned the state could lag national job growth in 2026 and 2027 amid energy-sector headwinds, according to Oklahoma State University.
Policy And Business Takeaways
The poll shows broad appetite within the business community for long-term fixes. According to the poll, 89% said the state should prioritize funding for improved education outcomes, particularly early reading and math, while many leaders said they prefer investing record reserves over tax cuts. Those preferences underscore a shift toward policy tools that target the talent pipeline and infrastructure capacity, priorities the poll suggests will determine whether Oklahoma's current momentum translates into durable growth.
Executives and HR leaders say the next test will be whether state and local policymakers move from diagnosis to funding and programmatic fixes in the coming months. For now, the message is straightforward: Oklahoma firms expect to expand, but they need a stronger pipeline of talent and modern infrastructure to make that growth dependable.
