Parson talks employment rates, Ukraine at Missouri Press Day

BY HANNAH NORTON

Missouri News Network

JEFFERSON CITY — Roughly two years after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Gov. Mike Parson told journalists Thursday that although Missouri’s unemployment rate is nearing pre-pandemic levels, the state needs to take steps to combat labor deficits.

Parson said at a press briefing at the Governor’s Mansion that about 20,000 people are currently receiving unemployment benefits across the state. This does not reflect the total number of unemployed Missourians, as not everyone who is unemployed receives benefits. Just more than 120,000 Missouri residents were unemployed in December 2021, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In April 2020, the height of the pandemic, 327,380 people were unemployed statewide.

Now, the state faces an opposite problem: labor shortages. Parson reported that there are currently 119,000 job openings in Missouri, but companies are still struggling to fill open positions.

“Just recently, we were able to get state employees up to what I would say (is) a respectable amount, some sort of baseline to be able to compete with the markets — the private market,” Parson said.

Parson said that for this reason, workforce development is not a political issue.

“It’s about taking care of our kids and our grandkids,” Parson explained. “We prepare them to get an education, and we prepare them to go to work.”

Earlier Thursday, state Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick said that although supply chain shortages are still an issue in the state and nationwide, the Missouri economy is “benefitting from the strategy we employed during the height of the pandemic, not completely shutting down our businesses.”

To combat labor deficits, Parson’s office aims to raise the base pay for teachers and sheriffs.

The minimum salary for teachers in Missouri is $25,000. Missouri ranked 50th in starting salaries for teachers in 2019-2020, coming in ahead of only Montana among 50 states and the District of Columbia.

“The reason you become a teacher is sure not for the money,” Parson said.

Nearly half of new teachers leave the field within their first five years, according to the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future.

Parson has proposed raising the minimum teaching salary to $38,000, a 52% increase from the current rate.

In this case, the state will pay 70% of the expenses for raising salaries if schools are interested. The remaining cost will come from local funds.

Parson, who served as Polk County sheriff for 12 years, compared the role of local sheriffs to that of teachers.

“I think (sheriffs) do have a lot of the same problems as school teachers,” he said. “If you want a professional organization, you’re going to have to pay for it.”

Parson said pay raises for Missouri’s sheriffs are long overdue. He did not specify how much sheriffs are expected to make in the near future, but Senate Bill 53, which became law in July 2021, requires that county sheriffs be paid following a set salary schedule.

Russia sanctions encouraged

The governor also discussed Missouri’s position on Ukraine, just one week after Russia invaded.

He emphasized that Missouri can only do so much on its own, but he said he encourages Congress to continue to support Ukraine.

“The sanctions need to be much more severe now,” Parson said. “I’m not an expert on sanctions ... but I think in talks about the oil and all those things that are out there, whatever you can do to cut off the Russian influence and hurt them financially — to me, that is what it looks like our option is right now.”

Fitzpatrick presented the same message, underlining that Missouri should not invest in anything else tied to Russia or “prop up the Russian economy with public funds.”

During a special meeting on Thursday, members of the Missouri State Employees’ Retirement System (MOSERS) Board of Trustees unanimously passed a motion, made by Fitzpatrick, to prevent the future acquisition of Russian financial assets.

“Today the MOSERS Board of Trustees sent a clear message to Vladimir Putin: That his unprovoked invasion of Ukraine will not go unchecked, and the world will remain united in crippling his economy and his political future,” Fitzpatrick said in a news release.