S.C. Building “Online Guidance Counselor” for High School Students
By:Jessica Holdman/S.C. Daily Gazette
COLUMBIA — South Carolina’s employment agency is spending $13 million for an online tool meant to act as “the world’s most knowledgeable guidance counselor” for high schoolers in the state.
The Department of Employment and Workforce will use the funds — $10.3 million in one-time money and $2.8 million in new annual dollars — to hire an outside contractor to build and maintain what the agency is calling an “Education and Workforce Portal.”
The tool is mandated by legislation passed in May 2023 that reshuffled oversight of the state’s workforce development efforts. The measure, spearheaded by state House Speaker Murrell Smith, moved workforce-related duties from the state’s economic development agency to the agency that aids unemployed workers.
The Sumter Republican’s office says, once the portal is operational, “South Carolinians will have a one-stop resource that connects education, training, and workforce needs in a way we’ve never had before.”
The online portal will have two main parts:
A section for K-12 schools and colleges to compare the curriculum they teach to what skills companies say they need workers to have
And a section for students and job seekers with information on in-demand occupations
What exactly that will look like remains to be seen. But the Department of Employment and Workforce has been testing out ideas on its Find Your Future website, said agency spokeswoman Mary Kate Olivas.
According to Smith’s office, the speaker envisions a place where students and their parents can log in and see exactly how much a certain college degree or certificate will cost, how long it will take to complete the degree, financial aid options to help pay for it, a list of job opportunities available in the area where they want to live and the salaries they can expect to make after graduation.
“Together, these tools help families make smarter decisions, help businesses find skilled workers, and keep more of our talent right here at home,” a statement from the speaker’s office read.
“We must align educational offerings with employment opportunities, otherwise we’re wasting money and setting students up for failure by training them for jobs that don’t exist,” the statement continues. “This tool makes sure families see which programs actually lead to good jobs, and it helps schools adjust curricula to meet real employer needs.”
At the heart of the legislation passed two years ago is a push to increase the state’s labor force participation rate, which lags behind much of the nation.
South Carolina’s rate was 58.6 percent in July, compared to a national rate of 62.2 percent.
Labor force participation is the percentage of the population, age 16 and older, that is either working or actively seeking work. Because the calculation does not figure for those people who are retired, South Carolina’s heavy retiree population tends to hold down the state’s rate.
When only considering those people of prime employment age — age 25 to 54 — South Carolina’s rate is 81.1 percent, according to the latest available data. That’s 2.5 percentage points below the U.S. average.
Meanwhile, more South Carolinians are working now than ever before as the state’s population continues to grow. As of July, nearly 2.5 million people were estimated to be employed in the Palmetto State, according to state Employment and Workforce Executive Director William Floyd. That’s nearly 5,000 more people working compared to the month prior.
Still, more than 70,000 job openings are posted to the agency’s online database.
Among those openings are:
A senior software engineer with three years’ experience to work for an investment management company in Fort Mill, making $123,000 to $133,000 a year.
There’s a medical robotics company in Augusta seeking to hire a technician who can fix and train medical professionals on its robots, with a $85,000 annual salary.
A bank in Lexington is looking for a recruiter to work in its HR department, making $28,000 to $42,000 a year.
A Myrtle Beach engineering firm needs an electrical engineer and is offering a salary of $100,000 to $114,500.
An engineering firm in Greenville is offering $49,000 to $79,000 for a geologist.
A Charleston insurance company is looking for a salesperson, with a salary of $49,000 to $74,000 annually.
The Department of Employment and Workforce website also has data that could be useful to companies considering a South Carolina location, including the percentage of students from each high school who enrolled in college the fall following graduation and what those students chose to major in.
Nearly 60 percent of all South Carolina public high school seniors went on to college after graduation between 2015 and 2022, although there were differences based on location. In Fort Mill, for instance, 78 percent went to college, while in Jasper County it was less than 33 percent.
The most popular area of study was healthcare, with more than 5,300 students seeking degrees in that field. Almost 5,000 students sought business degrees. About 2,000 went into education.
According to the speaker’s office, having all this information in one place rather than scattered among different agencies is what makes the proposed portal useful. But the portal alone isn’t enough to boost the state’s workforce.
“Now we have to make sure schools, businesses, and families actually use these tools,” a statement from the office reads.
