Most wage earners in NMI below mean hourly wage

Most wage earners in the CNMI are below the mean hourly wage of $8.82 and median hourly wage of $5.50, excluding fringe benefits, and U.S. citizens generally have hourly wage rates higher than non-U.S. citizens, based on the just released first part of the CNMI Prevailing Wage Workforce Assessment Study that the CNMI government conducted.

More than half-59 percent-of 2,908 establishments in the CNMI have only one to four employees and only 2 percent or 45 have at least 50 employees.

U.S. citizens born in the CNMI had a mean hourly wage rate of $10.41 and a median $8.01, excluding fringe benefits, at the time of the survey. U.S. citizens born outside the CNMI had a mean wage rate of $15.83 and a median wage rate of $9.92 excluding fringe.

Workers from other countries including Canada and Australia had a $27.45 mean hourly wage and $17.69 median hourly wage, excluding fringe benefits.

Bangladeshi nationals had the lowest mean hourly wage of $5.28 and median hourly wage of $5.05.

Philippine nationals had a mean hourly wage of $6.45 and median hourly wage of $5.05 an hour, excluding fringe benefits.

By ethnic group, Caucasians had the highest mean hourly wage of $22.72, and Bangladeshis had the lowest at $5.45.

The hourly mean wage rate by industry excluding fringe was highest in finance and insurance at $13.26, and the lowest in agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting.

Press secretary Angel Demapan earlier said that although the Saipan Chamber of Commerce initially released a study last year, the government’s “comprehensive report encompasses a broader population base and focused not only on the prevailing wage but also on the workforce assessment that should be released by end of this month.”

Douglas Brennan, president of the Saipan Chamber of Commerce, said yesterday that the Chamber “applauds the CNMI for concluding their own prevailing wage rates” for those petitioning U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for H-1B visas through the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Foreign Labor Certification.

“Having our two survey summary reports available to CNMI employers should more than suffice for the next two years, or until another survey, with more finite data, is involved in processing visa applications,” Brennan told Saipan Tribune.

He also said the Chamber “hopes an employer dependent upon the CNMI survey petitioning for an H-1B visa finds success. SCC was relieved when our work began being accepted as a basis for prevailing wage determinations.”

These statistics aim to fulfill the requirement of U.S. Public Law 110-229 or the Consolidated Natural Resources Act of 2008, the law that placed CNMI immigration under federal control. It requires CNMI employers seeking to hire new employees from outside the CNMI to pay a wage rate equal to or above the average hourly wage rate for the particular occupation the employer is seeking to fill.

Prior to that, average hourly wage rates did not exist for all occupations in the CNMI so employers had to use wage rates from Guam, Hawaii, and other U.S. jurisdictions. This was not favorable to the CNMI, whose economy has lower wage rates.

Government enumerators visited a total of 1,806 businesses, autonomous agencies, private schools, and other organizations. Of those visited, 1,486 responded and 1,201 reported employee data to the PWWAS.

At the time of the survey, there were 2,908 establishments with 21,399 employees.

Of these establishments, 59 percent or 1,705 had between one and four employees; 12 percent or 360 had between five and nine employees; 12 percent or 333 had between 10 and 49 employees; and less than 2 percent or 45 had 50 or more employees.