Members and Guests engaged in a lively discussion with our speaker, John Lummus, President and CEO of Upstate SC Alliance, around the continued challenges businesses have around recruiting talent due to labor shortages. As previously reported, the state has an overall unemployment rate of 2.4%; as John commented, when it’s below 4%, it causes major issues. As a state, South Carolina has been very aggressive in combatting this issue, especially in the manufacturing space. In addition to the strong traditional and technical college offerings in the state, South Carolina offers the second highest number of apprenticeship programs in the country (second only to California). The Upstate SC Alliance is also targeting specific cities across the country via social media to promote job opportunities and quality of life in the state.