Charleston County, SC – The workers shortage is still an issue for many local businesses in South Carolina, but Charleston County is also seeing staffing shortage lately as they have many positions free.
In an order to make those positions more attractive for potential employees, the Charleston County’s Finance Committee is considering to increase the workers wages for additional 15 percent.
According to them, currently there are more than 300 open job positions in Charleston County.
The low wages seem to be the main reason why people are not interested to work in Charleston County as the wages have not kept up with the inflation during the years. This makes the job positions less attractive for workers.
Charleston County Representative Kelsey Barlow says the Consumer Price Index for the Southeast indicates a more than 20% cumulative inflation rate over the past decade. The pay tables have been adjusted by only 5% during that time frame.
On a meeting that is set to take place on Thursday, the Finance Committee will discuss about increasing the current wages for 15 percent.
If the proposal gets approved, the minimal wage will be raised to $13.50 an hour from the current $9.46 an hour. If passed, the raise will apply for every single employee with the Charleston County.
With this 15% increase across all pay tables, any employee making the minimum for their role would see a pay raise. All employees already making 15% above the minimum within their pay tables would not necessarily see a raise, but they would be eligible for a raise of up to 15% more than their current salary cap.
The 15 percent increase will additionally cost Charleston County around $1 million, amount that should be added in the 2022 budget.
The meeting is scheduled to start at 5 p.m. Thursday and county officials say it will be held at 4045 Bridgeview Drive in North Charleston.
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