Governor says South Carolina is on the way up
Governor Henry McMaster spoke to several Hartsville civic organizations about South Carolina’s economy and the state’s future.
Photo by Melissa Rollins
By Melissa Rollins, Editor, editor@newsandpress.net
South Carolina needs to find a way to produce more skilled workers, said Governor Henry McMaster, speaking Tuesday, May 23, at a joint meeting of several Hartsville civic organizations.
McMaster spoke to members of the Hartsville Rotary, Kiwanis, Lions Clubs and Young Professionals groups Tuesday afternoon at the Hartsville Country Club.
During his speech, McMaster spoke about innovation, economic competition and where he wants to see South Carolina go during his term.
“With the interstate highways and all of the new things that are happening, we are on top of the world and we are going up,” McMaster said. “The institutions that have taken so long to build are paying off and we are in exactly the right spot at the right time. If we don’t mess it up, there is virtually nothing that we can’t do.”
Finding ways to attract business is key to a thriving state, he said.
“The main thing is we have to stay competitive, economically competitive,” McMaster said. “Everybody wonders what comes first the chicken or the egg. What comes first education or jobs? Well, I think it is jobs. Jobs is the central most important factor. When you have work available, giving people something that they like to do, something that they want to do, something that they are able to do, and it pays them a decent wage, that is when you start really having progress.”
For South Carolina, McMaster said, finding those jobs that can give families stability is important.
“(You need) some sort of work, some sort of earning capacity in the families,” McMaster said. “When you have that divorces go down, marriages go up, domestic violence goes down, education goes up, everything gets better and better. When you’re going in the other direction, things just get worse and worse.”
Training also becomes an important component, McMaster said, because the jobs that are available require skilled workers.
“Right now we have 60,000 available jobs in South Carolina, mostly in the skilled technical field,” McMaster said. “It used to be we had people looking for work. Now, we’ve got work looking for people.”
McMaster said that his plan is to continue to seek opportunities for the citizens of South Carolina.
“The enemy is poverty,” McMaster said. “The answer to that, the antidote, the remedy for that, is more and more good work. So I see it as my duty at this point in the history of our state to see that South Carolina maintains and increases its competitive edge over the rest of the country. If we can keep that competitive edge, if we can increase the capital investment coming in, the market opportunities, other states will not be able to keep up.”