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State Rep. David Tyson Smith (D-Columbia), State Sen. Barbara Washington (D-Kansas City) and other Missouri lawmakers pose with GOP Governor Mike and First Lady Teresa Parson at the governor's prayer breakfast at Jefferson City's Capitol Plaza Hotel (January 5, 2023 photo courtesy of the governor's Flickr page)

Missouri’s governor: state government must compete with the marketplace for employees

State Rep. David Tyson Smith (D-Columbia), State Sen. Barbara Washington (D-Kansas City) and other Missouri lawmakers pose with GOP Governor Mike and First Lady Teresa Parson at the governor’s prayer breakfast at Jefferson City’s Capitol Plaza Hotel (January 5, 2023 photo courtesy of the governor’s Flickr page)

Missouri’s governor predicts state employees will be pleased with his proposed budget, which he’ll unveil during this month’s State of the State address.

Governor Mike Parson spoke on 939 the Eagle’s “Wake Up Mid-Missouri.”

“Ever since I’ve been here (as governor), we realized we’ve got to do a better job with our state employees, taking care of them one and we’ve got to compete,” Parson says.

State employees received a 5.5 percent cost of living adjustment (COLA) last February, under a $4.6 billion supplemental budget bill signed by Governor Parson. More than 14,000 state employees work in Cole County, making state government Jefferson City’s largest employer.

“You know there’s a market we have to go up against everyday like everybody else and you have to be competitive in that. And we know we’re down a lot of employees, so we’re trying to do a lot of things outside the box to really bring state employees into the fold and show them that the state of Missouri is a good place to work and you can make a decent living out of it,” says Parson.

The governor will deliver his State of the State address on January 18 in Jefferson City, to a joint session of the Missouri Legislature.

You can hear our full “Wake Up Mid-Missouri” interview with Governor Parson here. He joined us live from Jefferson City’s Capitol Plaza Hotel.

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