Villagomez presents census report to OIA

Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Acting Governor Timothy P. Villagomez presented a most recently completed report on CNMI population, labor force and income to Wali Osman, Economist for the U.S. Department of Interior’s Office of Insular Affairs (OIA), last Tuesday at the CNMI Governor’s Office.

Acting Governor Villagomez, CNMI Commerce Department Central Statistics Division Director Jose T. Liwanag, and Justin Andrew presented to Osman the 2005 CNMI Household Income and Expenditures Survey, a study originally undertaken by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The 2005 HIES Report’s survey was conducted in the last quarter of 2005. A summary section profiles the general population characteristics, labor force population characteristics and income for the CNMI as a whole and for each of the islands of Saipan, Tinian and Rota, with thematic maps.

A second part of the report contains detailed statistical tables, totaling 188, on many of the topics covered in the 2005 HIES.

Richard A. Pierce, the governor’s special assistant for trade relations and economic affairs, stated, “OIA was extremely pleased to receive this most recent work detailing population and labor in the CNMI. They know how little good hard data is available in the insular areas.”

Pierce added, “This 2005 HIES, and the 2008 Comprehensive Assessment and Impact Analysis Report we will present later, will allow OIA to represent better to the United States Congress and the Administration the real impact we face with our fragile islands’ economy threatened by forces apparently outside our control.”

After an OIA grant was awarded to the Office of the Governor and CNMI Commerce, CSD worked with consultants from Harvard University and the Northern Marianas College to complete the important CNMI data files and tables to present to OIA.

OIA agreed to fund the completion of the U.S. Census Bureau’s data files in report form after the CNMI requested the work to be undertaken as essential to the economic projects for the U.S. Governmental Accountability Office (GAO), the U.S. Department of Labor’s congressionally mandated review of minimum wage impact in the CNMI and for the ongoing independent economic impact analysis for the Office of the Governor.

The 2005 HIES states, among other vital statistical data and tables, the CNMI estimated population in 2005 was 65,927, with 60,608 on Saipan, 2,829 on Tinian and 2,490 on Rota.

The HIES lists population by election districts, median age, age distribution, sex ratio, ethnicity, citizenship, migrant population, reason for migrating to the CNMI, length of stay and living arrangements. Labor and income statistics cover employment by industry, employment and unemployment, employment by ethnicity and citizenship and by class of workers. Household and family income figures are provided, as are per capita income. [B][I](PR)[/I][/B]