2 new prevailing wage surveys eyed

Applications in the CNMI for U.S. work visas such as H1B have been denied over a lack of a new prevailing wage survey data, said the Saipan Chamber of Commerce, which is now seeking to update a 2011 survey. The Department of Commerce is also seeking to update its own 3-year-old survey.
A survey of wages, salaries and benefits—oftentimes referred to as “prevailing wage survey”—measures base rates of pay and benefits of private and public employers in the CNMI.

The Saipan Chamber of Commerce and the Department of Commerce separately requested the U.S. Department of the Interior for funding to conduct their own 2014 survey of wages, salaries and benefits that, among other things, are critical in U.S. work visa applications from CNMI employers.

“The Department of Labor is already denying applications based solely on the lack of a prevailing wage survey publication within a 24-month period,” Saipan Chamber of Commerce president Alex Sablan said in a March 31 letter to acting U.S. Interior assistant secretary for insular areas Lori Faeth, seeking funding for a 2014 prevailing wage survey.

In 2011, Interior approved a $16,150 technical assistance grant to the Saipan Chamber of Commerce to support its prevailing wage survey.

In a phone interview yesterday, Sablan said they communicated their intent with their 2011 survey contractor, The Guam Employers Council, and estimate the total cost of preparing a 2014 survey to be “approximately $21,000.”

“We are hoping that the Interior will once again award a grant for us to pursue a new survey,” Sablan told Saipan Tribune.

Press secretary Angel Demapan confirmed yesterday that the “Department of Commerce has submitted a proposal to Interior to fund a new prevailing wage study.”

“The Commonwealth is currently awaiting action from DOI on its proposal,” Demapan said.

Sablan said the Saipan Chamber of Commerce has been “inundated with requests to update the 2011 Survey.”

“One of the most urgent reasons for this survey is that the CNMI depends on H-1B workers for many of the available mid-management employment positions. These jobs cannot easily be replaced by local hires until our population has obtained the education and skills to qualify them for these skilled jobs,” he told Faeth, who just recently visited the CNMI for the first time along with Office of Insular Affairs director Nik Pula.

Sablan said the Chamber appreciates any assistance Faeth’s office may provide in support of their request for $21,000 funding assistance.

“Survey results provide a benchmark and an opportunity to realize the effects the minimum wage adjustments have had on salaries and benefits through a new survey,” Sablan said in his two-page letter to Faeth.

The Chamber, the largest business organization in the CNMI with some 150 members, said it would follow the same formula that resulted in completing the 2011 survey with satisfactory results.

Sablan said the Chamber will use the Standard Occupation Classification published by the U.S. Department of Labor as the standard for the job codes, titles and descriptions, as Labor recommended.

A prevailing wage is different from—and is generally higher than—the minimum wage, which is currently $5.55 an hour in the CNMI.

Without a CNMI prevailing wage survey, CNMI employers have been forced to pay the rates similar to those of other U.S. states and territories such as Guam that are much higher and not reflective of the conditions in the local economy. Guam wages alone have long been much higher than those in the CNMI.