Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry Secretary Jennifer Berrier addressed a wide range of issues impacting employers and employees across the state during the Business Journal's 2022 Economic Forecast event on Thursday. In the discussion, Berrier, who assumed the role of secretary in an acting capacity in December 2020 and was confirmed in June 2021, touched on various topics including the labor shortage, increasing the minimum wage and other policy initiatives spearheaded by Gov. Tom Wolf's administration that could affect businesses in the region and state.
Below are excerpts from the conversation, edited for clarity and length.
On the biggest concern facing CEOs and business owners:
I think the biggest concern is the so-called labor shortage, or the lack of workers for businesses. That's a huge concern because how do you grow your business without that people capital? I think it's something that we're all working together to get to the root of. And it's really an interesting dilemma because it's something we really haven't seen before. We had a bit of a labor shortage before we went into the Covid-19 pandemic, but I can definitely say the Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated the need for workers, and we find ourselves in a challenging time where it's very competitive for employers to compete for workers.
On how southeastern Pennsylvania's job market differs from the rest of the state:
What we're seeing is that the strength of the job market in southeastern...
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