By Elizabeth Hustad originally posted on Sept 25, 2024 by the Post and Courier North Augusta Star

She credits a first job working for Dairy Queen – earning $2.10 an hour and her mother advising that she better save half of it – with laying the foundations for success, both in business and in politics.

South Carolina Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette was in North Augusta on Sept. 17, speaking before Chamber of Commerce members and promoting school choice and youth employment as integral in South Carolina’s future economic competitiveness.

Evette said that DQ job taught her about the value of money and the value of saving, and about working with others and, sometimes, with difficult others.

But now, the nation is at its lowest point for youth employment, she said – kids aren’t excited about working and they’re not learning the foundational lessons taught in those first jobs.

About 55% of all 16- to 24-year-olds in the U.S. were working in July this year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, though July is also statistically the peak as many of these youth take on summer jobs that are dropped when school is back in session.

By another measure, the youth labor force participation rate – those who are able to work and are doing so – was about 60 percent in July, or just under the nation’s overall participation rate for all working age citizens but significantly below the 83% for workers in the 25-54 age group.

Gov. Henry McMaster’s Workforce Scholarships for the Future, begun in November 2021, is meant to reskill and employ South Carolinians through leveraging the state’s technical college system.

But that initiative, though successful in training more than 32,000 of nurses, welders, forklift operators and commercial drivers – among others – also left “a vacuum,” Evette said.

That vacuum was the entry-level jobs not being filled by young South Carolinians: the DQ jobs that teach the first lessons.

Evette and McMaster have partnered with the state’s Department of Employment and Workforce to launch the “YES” initiative to ease entry into the job market for today’s youth.

The Youth Employment Site allows businesses across the state to post their starter jobs and for youth to search the database by inputting their zip code and age and having returned to them the available jobs in their area that are suited to them.

But even the lessons of first jobs have to start at home and in education, Evette said.

“I firmly believe if a child can read, a child can learn; if a child can learn, a child can be anything they want to be,” she said.

Both Evette and Gov. McMaster are proponents of school choice and “a complete voucher system” that, she said, could be especially helpful for rural areas.

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But the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled a portion of a pilot program of vouchers unconstitutional: public money from the state’s Education Scholarship Trust Fund, the ruling said, cannot be used for private school tuition, though it may be put toward tutoring, materials and other supportive needs.

During her stop in North Augusta, Evette also touched on the energy crisis and its impacts to South Carolina’s economy.

The rolling blackout that almost was on Christmas Day in 2022 was the impetus for heightened focus at the General Assembly.

“We squeaked by. But it did send a loud message,” Evette said.

Six months after the scare, Gov. McMaster issued an executive order creating PowerSC, a working group to engage with the state’s energy stakeholders and “develop strategic plans to ensure South Carolina has the energy capacity to meet the needs of the state’s record-breaking economic development and population growth.”

“All the careers of the future, whether it comes as security or grid, AI – these are all big energy producers,” Evette said. And “South Carolina, we’re famous for manufacturing. Manufacturing requires energy.”

The state is also the fastest growing in the nation as far as population goes, at least according to 2023 estimates. South Carolina ranked 10th for the 2020 Census, having grown by 10 percent.

Doing “whatever we can at the state level to help our businesses continue to grow,” is paramount, Evette said. “We’re going to work on education. We’re going to work on our workforce. We’re working on energy. We’re trying to give you everything you need to make South Carolina grow.”

Speaking with reporters after her Chamber appearance, Evette acknowledged South Carolina’s No. 2 spot in this year’s Area Development Rankings, the second time the state has been runner-up to Georgia as best state to do business.

Evette said the No. 2 ranking was a show of “South Carolina’s fingerprints,” a reference to remarks she’d made just 30 minutes prior to the state’s manufacturing sector and its being home to some of the largest manufacturing plants in the country: wherever BMWs and Bridgestonetires are seen, that’s largely South Carolina production.

“And we’re just building,” she said. Investing in career opportunities that keep the “best and brightest” here and providing for ease of doing business –including basic hospitality – are big, she said.

More than offering a site to new industry, we stay with them, we connect them with our technical colleges, we work on getting them a workforce. And we’re with them all the way to the day they open up their door,” she said.

Evette will be back in North Augusta later this year, partnering with Major League Baseball as MLB hosts a kids baseball clinic at SRP Park.

Get kids excited about working, she said, but also get kids excited about getting outside and moving again (and leaving the phone behind).

by Shawn Cabbagestalk originally posted on September 17, 2024 by WJBF

NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. (WJBF) — South Carolina’s Lieutenant Governor, Pamela Evette, made a stop in North Augusta today. She spoke with the Chamber about economic development and celebrated local achievements.

Evette discussed the state’s efforts to address future energy needs, emphasizing the importance of planning ahead. “Making sure that we can think 30 years ahead into the future by creating more energy because to be able to grow and do what you guys are doing here. Working on cyber, working on the grid, all of that requires extra energy and a lot of it,” she said.

To make sure North Augusta’s projects are successful, the state is working with local lawmakers who understand the area’s needs. “That’s how we as state government find out what job careers we think will be deficient in the years to come and how we can put an emphasis on letting our young people know what jobs will be there for them when they come outta high school,” Lt. Evette added

She also highlighted her commitment to business and education, including advocating for school choice and improving technical colleges. Evette introduced the YES Initiative, a program designed to connect youth with local job opportunities and teach them essential skills. The program links young people to local jobs via a new website, helping them gain skills and learn financial responsibility. “Whether it’s in an ice cream shop or a coffee shop. Something that’s a great first job that teaches ’em soft skills, but more importantly teaches them fiscal responsibility,” she said.

Evette emphasized that South Carolina’s technical colleges offer valuable career opportunities and are key to attracting businesses to the state. “So the more we can diversify and bring different industries in from all over the globe, the more we can keep our kids. And as a mom, that’s really important to me to make sure that we have opportunities for all of our children right here,” she said.

Also, Evette is partnering with the Augusta GreenJackets for an MLB event aimed at getting kids excited about sports and encouraging outdoor activities. “They’ll have all the equipment there and they’ll be doing lessons, getting their kids excited about being outside. It’s a great thing,” Lt. Evette added. The event is scheduled for Saturday, September 28th at 10 a.m. at SRP Park.

Originally posted on September 11 by Adrianna Lawrence on WBTW ABC News 13

FLORENCE, S.C. (WBTW) — South Carolina Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette and members of the state Department of Employment and Workforce visited the Florence Family YMCA Tuesday afternoon, highlighting the importance of young people in the workforce.

Finding workers is one of the state’s top concerns, according to the SCDEW. Encouraging young people to get out and work will benefit employers and teach kids valuable life skills. 

When you walk through the doors of the Florence Family YMCA, you’re greeted by young workers, eager to learn, grow and, of course, make their own money. Some are as young as 13 years old. 

“I’ve learned that I have to have a lot of patience and that I need to always try to strive through to keep me going,” one young worker said.

Others are in high school and beyond. 

“Some sense of dependability by being on time and when I’m needed,” another young worker said. “I learn how to problem solve whenever there is like small conflict.”  

Another worker said: “My brother worked here, and my sister, so we’ve really been here for a long time. It just feels like family to me.”

The Youth Employment Initiative aims to provide a resource for young people to find jobs and help employers in need of workers. 

That’s where SCDEW and Evette come in to say young people are the next workforce. 

“Why do we want our young people working?” Evette said. “Because we need them. Your small businesses, your community businesses, those are the businesses that support your Little League teams and your soccer teams here at the Y. They need our help. They need our kids to get involved and get working.” 

Brian New, CEO of the Florence Family YMCA, said he’s seen firsthand how valuable starting work at a young age can be. 

“They come back to me and tell me what the Y has meant, what that first job meant to them and what they learned through that first job here,” New said.

SCDEW Executive Director William Floyd III said kids, some as young as 13, will pave the way for the next workforce. 

“This is great to know where workforce begins and begins with Madison and younger,” Floyd said.

New said the Florence Family YMCA is always hiring young people. You can find a full list of jobs, here.

By: Scarlett Lisjak, originally posted by WSPA on August 27, 2024

GRAY COURT, S.C. – South Carolina Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evette made a stop in the Upstate to highlight the importance of young people entering the workforce.

Lt. Governor Evette along with the state’s Department of Employment and Workforce visited ZF Transmissions Tuesday. The manufacturing business employs hundreds.

Evette highlighted why working in a place like ZF benefits young people.

“Advanced manufacturing is really cool and we have to figure out as adults how do we talk to our middle schoolers how do we talk to our high schoolers about the cool things that happen in facilities like this,” the Lt. Governor explained.

It’s all a part of the Lt. Governor’s “Empowering Tomorrow’s Leaders” initiative.

“Really encourage young people to get off the couch, put their cell phones and video games down and learn important skills that will make them successful in their future careers,” Evette said.

The Lt. Governor added that young people’s first job is where they develop skills that cannot be replicated in the classroom.

“The first job teaches us everything we need to know, it teaches us those soft skills, about how to we communicate with our fellow employees and our customers,” Evette said. “Things that businesses not just in our state, but across our country have been begging us for. Those soft skills that people coming out of college and entering the work force just don’t have.”

Preston McCreary is in an apprentice at ZF. McCreary said what he is learning there will make a positive impact on his future career.

“In today’s world it seems that education is very important, but experience might be more important,” McCreary said. “You need to know what to do, instead of how to do it.”

DEW tells us that they are actively helping to connect young people like Preston to employers across the Palmetto State.

“We have more people working today than we ever had, but we need more of them and tomorrow’s workforce is coming out of the schools right now. At DEW, we have regional workforce advisors who come along side parents, teachers and educators and put them together,” said William Floyd, the Executive Director at DEW.

ZF Transmissions offers an apprenticeship program so young people enrolled in a technical college can earn credits while they get on-the-job training and experience.