{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://rice.house.gov//media-center/in-the-news/florence-symposium-focuses-on-economic-development", "Florence symposium focuses on economic development", "2014-10-10", "2014", "2014-10", "Republican", "House", "SC", "Tom Rice", "R000597", "rice.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Rice reiterated his talking points on increasing America\u2019s competitiveness in the global economy as well as continuing to bring jobs to his Congressional district, which spans the Pee Dee and Grand Strand. Some major business leaders, however, voiced concern over filling jobs because of a lacking skilled labor force.\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\u201cMy goal is to give skills to the people that are already here,\u2019 Rice said. \u201cWe have a workforce that has suffered from industry from leaving our shores. Thank goodness we have facilities like the one we\u2019re standing in right now, SiMT. Admittedly we have not kept up, but we\u2019re ramping up.\u201d\r\n\t\t\t\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\tThe French yacht builder Beneteau has called Marion its home away from home since 1986, when it located its first U.S. production facility outside of the country and in the Pee Dee, an area with the feel of rural France that was on the Eastern Seaboard, near an Interstate highway, between New York and Miami, executives said.\r\n\t\t\t\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\tHowever, senior level supervisor Rick Pease said in a presentation that a skilled labor force is one of the company\u2019s biggest challenges at the site.\r\n\t\t\t\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\u201cFrom a business point of view, we\u2019re getting competition from the rest of the world,\u201d Rice said. \u201cHow can we compete when we do not see the top applicants of the pool? It takes up to 40 conversations to make one hire. We don\u2019t see the competitive edge with these applicants. They may be passing the requirements to graduate, but they are not prepared to enter the workplace.\u201d\r\n\t\t\t\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\tThe luxury yacht company has churned out more than 8,000 yachts since opening and 250 boats in the past fiscal year at the Marion site where 167 full-time and temps are employed.\r\n\t\t\t\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\u201cBig boats being a true luxury item, we were hit very hard with this Great Recession,\u201d Pease said. \u201cSo it takes a long time for our business to recover, yet we feel that we are on a continually improving track.\u201d\r\n\t\t\t\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\tBeneteau isn\u2019t alone in finding quality talent in the area.\r\n\t\t\t\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\tAVM Industries General Manager Mike Putinta looks out of state to attract talent and has difficulties even filling production jobs for the automotive manufacturer site in Marion. The company supplies automakers such as General Motors, Toyota and Honda with specialized gas springs. Putinta said future innovation and growth are dependent on a strong workforce to replace veteran employees.\r\n\t\t\t\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\u201cWe got a definite need right now for skilled tradesmen,\u201d Putinta said. \u201cI have jobs that go unfilled, that pay very well, for months because I can\u2019t find the people. I have an $85,000 controls engineer job that I can\u2019t fill locally; sad to say I\u2019ll have to recruit from up north.\u201d\r\n\t\t\t\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\tRodney Berry, economic development director with Rice\u2019s office, explained that the frank discussion from businesses was what he wanted the 100-plus crowd of the economic development community to hear.\r\n\t\t\t\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\u201cOur theme is how to be competitive and what makes us competitive,\u201d Berry said. \u201cBut I asked these folks to be very candid on our downfalls. We\u2019re not going to get a lot of fluff. I hope you folks take note and let\u2019s work on those.\u201d\r\n\t\t\t\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\tFlorence\u2019s most recent corporate addition is Ruiz Foods, locating in the old Heinz facility, where up to 500 employees are expected to work within the next two years. Senior human resources manager Darryl Davids said the company won\u2019t be in a full hiring frenzy until next year but plans to attract employees to the food manufacturing facility through high wages and strong benefits.\r\n\t\t\t\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\u201cYou\u2019re not going to get the kind of people that you desire to have and you want long term if (wages are) going to be down here,\u201d Davids said. \u201cYou need to pay livable wages, and we certainly intend to do that. We\u2019ve got a great benefits package, by the way. Having worked at GE, they compare.\u201d\r\n\t\t\t\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\tHowever Davids admits the site\u2019s new general manager, who has a background with food giant ConAgra, will be coming from Houston.\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\tBY GAVIN JACKSON Morning Newsgjackson@florencenews.com", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://rice.house.gov//media-center/in-the-news/florence-symposium-focuses-on-economic-development"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.800555968657136, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}