(The Center Square) – More than 1,300 people responded in the first five days of a South Dakota workforce campaign.
The $5 million marketing campaign “Freedom Works Here” includes direct mail, digital and two television advertisements featuring Gov. Kristi Noem. The goal is to attract more people to South Dakota to fill 25,000 open jobs, the governor said.
“It is my responsibility as governor to make sure that South Dakota will continue to grow and thrive for our kids and grandkids,” Noem said in a news release. “The results of this workforce recruitment campaign after just five days shows that folks all over America see that what we’re doing here in South Dakota is working – and they want to be a part of it.”
A map provided by the governor’s office shows responses from every state except Hawaii. Two-hundred Californians responded, the most of any state, according to a map provided by the governor’s office. One-hundred Texans responded, along with 88 Floridians.
“We’ve never had a recruitment marketing effort that has captured this many people in this way for the entirety of the marketing campaign – let alone in less than seven days,” said Marcia Hultman, Secretary of the South Dakota Department of Labor and Regulation.
South Dakota’s unemployment rate is 1.9%, according to the latest figures.
“The next step is to get these folks plugged into our workforce and our communities here in South Dakota,” said Chris Schilken, commissioner of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development. “We need businesses to work with us so that we can make sure all of our open jobs are listed.”
