{"id":8772,"date":"2012-08-14T10:01:24","date_gmt":"2012-08-14T15:01:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=8772"},"modified":"2012-12-19T14:56:32","modified_gmt":"2012-12-19T20:56:32","slug":"why-oklahomas-oil-boom-has-forced-dairy-queen-to-offer-sign-on-bonuses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2012\/08\/14\/why-oklahomas-oil-boom-has-forced-dairy-queen-to-offer-sign-on-bonuses\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Oklahoma&#8217;s Oil Boom Has Forced Dairy Queen to Offer Sign-On Bonuses"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_8491\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 300px;\"><a class=\"fancybox\" title=\"Rig crews hard at work on a Helmerich & Payne operation in western Oklahoma.\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2012\/08\/HP-rig3.jpg\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-8491\" title=\"H-P Rig\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2012\/08\/HP-rig3-300x173.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"173\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2012\/08\/HP-rig3-300x173.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2012\/08\/HP-rig3-500x289.jpg 500w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2012\/08\/HP-rig3-150x87.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2012\/08\/HP-rig3.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Joe Wertz \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rig crews hard at work on a Helmerich & Payne drilling operation in western Oklahoma.<\/p>\n<\/div><p>Oklahoma&#8217;s oil and natural gas boom has been great for drillers, energy explorers and petroleum producers. It&#8217;s been <a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2012\/08\/10\/boom-town-locals-in-western-oklahoma-welcome-growth-watch-for-the-bust\/\">a boon to local communities<\/a>, where growth is outpacing housing.<\/p><p>So why are there so many &#8220;help wanted&#8221; signs in restaurant and shop windows in western Oklahoma?<\/p><p><a href=\"http:\/\/economywatch.nbcnews.com\/_news\/2012\/08\/13\/13262835-oil-boom-brings-scarcity-of-workers-in-small-towns?lite\">The Associated Press reports<\/a> on the &#8220;flip side&#8221; opportunity in Oklahoma&#8217;s oilfields, where people are getting lucrative new jobs \u2014 and leaving their old ones unfilled.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The result: Many businesses and government agencies now struggle to find enough workers. Most able-bodied people can double or triple their income in the oil patch.<\/p><\/blockquote><p><!--more--><\/p><p>Gas stations can&#8217;t find enough cashiers, and the local prison in Fort Supply \u2014 the William S. Key Correctional Center \u2014 is so short on guards that &#8220;inmates can sometimes just walk away,&#8221; the AP reports.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;I could hire 17 correctional officers today if I could get them to walk through the door,&#8221; said William Monday, the prison&#8217;s deputy warden.<\/p><\/blockquote><p>The problem: Prison guards start off at about $11.82 per hour \u2014 entry-level oilfield jobs start at about $20 per hour.<\/p><p>It&#8217;s so bad that Dairy Queen gives employees an extra $200 after they&#8217;ve been on payroll for three months.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;I never dreamed we&#8217;d have to offer a sign-on bonus to work here,&#8221; store owner Kenny Vassar tells the AP.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Oklahoma&#8217;s oil and natural gas boom has been great for drillers, energy explorers and petroleum producers. It&#8217;s been a boon to local communities, where growth is outpacing housing.So why are there so many &#8220;help wanted&#8221; signs in restaurant and shop windows in western Oklahoma?The Associated Press reports on the &#8220;flip side&#8221; opportunity in Oklahoma&#8217;s oilfields, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":8491,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[490,301,300],"tags":[238,419],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8772"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8772"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8772\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8777,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8772\/revisions\/8777"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}