Fitial agrees with US lawmakers on Labor report

The Fitial administration said yesterday that it agrees with the comments of two U.S. lawmakers that described as “poorly researched” and “fundamentally flawed” the U.S. Department of Labor study on the impact of the increased minimum wage on the economies of American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

“Although we believe the U.S. Labor report was a good starting point, the governor agrees with Sen. [Edward] Kennedy and Rep. [George] Miller that federal minimum wage policy in American Samoa and the CNMI should be based on solid, objective, and impartial studies with meaningful and accurate data,” said press secretary Charles P. Reyes in an e-mail to the Saipan Tribune.

Gov. Benigno R. Fitial’s spokesperson also said that the administration continues to call for further studies with more in-depth analysis on the impact the minimum wage increase has on the economies of the CNMI and American Samoa.

“Governor Fitial believes that federal minimum wage policy for the islands should be strongly data-driven and based on sound economic analysis. We welcome more studies and believe any future wage increase should be based on several meaningful studies, not just one. And this is why we recommend a suspension of federal wage hikes until the CNMI and the U.S. Congress are satisfied that they are based on good data,” he added.

In a letter to U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine Chao dated March 14, Miller and Kennedy said that the DOL study—mandated by Congress—does not adequately address minimum wage issues, was poorly researched and in many respects, was fundamentally flawed.

Miller is chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor, while Kennedy is the chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.

Quoting the two, The Samoa News said the report makes no attempt to evaluate the impact of the first 50-cent wage hike in 2007 or future increases on the living standards of working families in American Samoa and CNMI and as a result, the report entirely fails to address one of the main issues that Congress required DOL to assess, thereby depriving residents of the two territories of the full information that they deserve.

Miller and Kennedy went on to say that the report “is decidedly one-sided,” citing that DOL interviewed a limited number of government officials, business representatives and industry lobbyists.

The two lawmakers also said that the report also failed to independently verify assertions and speculative statements made by business representatives and instead simply recorded and repeated their claims, according to the letter.

The CNMI implemented the first of nine minimum wage hikes mandated by H.R. 2066 on July 24, 2007.

That 50-cent increase raised the CNMI minimum wage of $3.05 an hour to $3.55 an hour. It will increase 50 cents every year until the CNMI minimum wage equals the federal level of $7.25 an hour by 2015.

The swift passage of the minimum wage hike bill came about because it was attached to the Iraq war budget bill as a rider.

Before 2007, the last time the CNMI’s minimum wage was increased was 11 years ago.