SC Gov Announces Job Training Initiative With ACT

SEANNA ADCOX

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina is entering a partnership with a company known for its college admission test to better match unemployed workers with the businesses who need them, Gov. Nikki Haley announced Thursday.

South Carolina is among four states where ACT is launching its Certified Work Ready Communities Academy this month. ACT is developing the pilot program in the state over the next year, with the intention of spreading it nationwide. The other states to pilot the program are Kentucky, Oregon and Missouri, according to the independent, not-for-profit company.

Details of how it will work are in the developing stage.

The initiative is about better aligning the skills of unemployed workers with the job openings that exist, Haley said, adding that gap has been a source of frustration.

"South Carolina just moved forward in a big way today," she said. "We're going to see it not only in the skills people are able to get, we're going to see it in the jobs we build; we're going to see it in the companies that come," she said. "Today's a great day in South Carolina."

South Carolina already has about 100 contracts with ACT's work readiness system, Haley said.

That system today involves up to nine tests that assess workers' skills, identifying the level of skill employers need, training to close those gaps, and credentials awarded in the bronze, silver, gold and platinum levels.

Since 2007, more than 150,000 such certificates have been issued through the state's unemployment agency.

Those tests can be taken at 35 workforce centers statewide, said Abraham Turner, director of the Department of Employment and Workforce.

The new initiative, which costs the state no additional money, is meant to integrate South Carolina's various testing and training programs, while coordinating efforts statewide among state and county agencies, high schools and technical schools.