Previous Story
‘Jobs audit will result in higher pay for all’
|
Posted on Nov 21 2006
The ongoing CNMI-wide jobs audit will not address the local minimum wage rate, but will inevitably result in higher pay for both residents and nonresidents, according to Public Auditor Michael Sablan.
Speaking before the Saipan Rotary Club yesterday, Sablan said that the audit of private sector jobs would identify hundreds of positions currently filled by nonresidents that can be filled by resident workers. Expected to be completed by mid-December, the study will offer recommendations to increase local employment, such as establishing targets for job placements, updating policy that restrict certain job classifications to residents, and placing disincentives for hiring nonresidents.
ÅgSalaries will have to go up for everyone. If employers are going to pay more to attract residents, they will have to offer the same rate to their nonresident employees—because you cannot discriminate based on citizenship,Åh Sablan said.
He maintained that local workers can only be given preference during the hiring process, not when they are already working for a company that also employs nonresidents.
Sablan said that the lower minimum wage in the CNMI, as compared to the United States, is not the sole reason for local unemployment. He noted that many companies that operate under the same wage rate have been successful in hiring and keeping resident workers by offering slightly higher wages to employees.
ÅgThey don’t have to do. It causes them to lose the competitive edge because their costs are higher. But they think it is good policy,Åh he said.
Currently, the government is the CNMI’s biggest employer, with approximately 5,000 mostly resident personnel. Payroll expenditures are the largest component of the CNMI budget.
Meanwhile, the CNMI economy employs over 30,000 nonresidents.
A survey by the Department of Commerce showed that the CNMI had a unemployment rate of 4.6 percent—about 2,386 workers—in 2003.
At least 805 students graduated from high school this year, plus 187 from Northern Marianas College. There are also 112 students receiving scholarship money from the government. About 400 of these graduates are looking for jobs, according to the public auditor.
