‘NMI urgently needs employment, population surveys’

The Commonwealth still does not have up-to-date surveys, which it will need to move forward and justify its labor needs to the federal government.

Lt. Gov. Ralph DLG. Torres said the CNMI does not have current data on employment rates, population density, and demographics, among others.

A summary of his report at a recent meeting in Washington, D.C., showed that the last pertinent survey data in the Commonwealth includes the unemployment rate, which grew from 3.9 percent in 2000 to 25 percent in 2007.

“There is no official unemployment rate, no up-to-date population data, and no up-to-date demographic data,” Torres said in his report.

A U.S. Census report said the CNMI population as of 2012 stood at 44,582.

But the Commonwealth needs new surveys, Torres said. He is asking the American Community Survey and the U.S. Census Bureau to include the CNMI in future surveys.

Torres cited that local funding to conduct data collection and reporting system that connects education, employment, and other workforce related concerns is nonexistent.

The employment and education data becomes important, considering an anticipated demand for workers with the influx of investors, particularly in the hospitality industry.

The data will also be important as the closure of the CW program nears.

Torres in his report said the CNMI is looking at close to 200 occupations filled by about 14,000 non-U.S. citizens that will need to be filled by U.S. workers following the end of the transition in 2019.

A looming problem is that the total number of unemployed U.S. workers in the CNMI in 2010 amounted to only about 20 percent of the 14,958 foreign workers.

“So even if all the U.S. workers not in the labor force were employed, more than 11,000 jobs would still need to be filled by foreign workers,” Torres said.

The official said government’s plans include the creation of an “American Jobs Center,” a physical one-stop career center to be the hub of training and employment needs.

“Already the virtual center has proven to be useful to our constituents and beneficial toward finding the right person for the job,” he said. “And we cannot have a sustainable or long-term workforce development plan without focusing on the next generation of workers.”