Building a stronger workforce in South Dakota is the goal of Governor Dennis Daugaard and many lawmakers this session. Representative Dave Lust says Governor Daugaard’s speech Tuesday was upbeat and highlighted the positives that state has going for it, such as low unemployment and budget surplus. He says while South Dakota has come of the recession a lot better than other states, he appreciates the governor’s initiative to develop skilled workers.
“I work with businesses everyday who tell me they’re struggling to find workers and keep quality workers. That’s a national problem we have is making sure our workforce is trained and adequately qualified to fill the jobs we have in the modern era. I think that’s a prudent investment, both the money he’s giving to tech schools for equipment and the tuition scholarships he’s talking about. That’s where we need to go—we need to be developing our workforce for the next year, five and ten years,” Lust says.
Governor Daugaard says he will award nearly four million dollars to tech schools for equipment in high-need fields, as well as a million and a half dollars to the schools for scholarships.