The country’s largest builder of warships is keeping more of its shipyard workers after boosting wages and hiring better-qualified recruits, said HII CEO Chris Kastner on Thursday.

“From a labor perspective, we have hired over 4,600 shipbuilders year-to-date and our retention rates have improved at both shipyards. At Newport News, we’ve seen an increase in experienced hires following the wage investment this summer and increased hiring from regional workforce development pipelines, which provides more proficient incoming shipbuilders,” Kastner said during the company’s third-quarter earnings call . “These are important steps to stabilize and level up the experience of our workforce.”

Earlier this year, HII said it would hire fewer new or green shipyard workers and increase pay to att

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