New prevailing wage survey, economic planning

Preparations are underway for a new prevailing wage survey that is critical to H visa applications in the CNMI, after the Department of Commerce announced yesterday receiving federal grants for both the wage survey and economic development strategy planning phase. The grants total a little over $50,000.

It would still take months to conduct and release the new prevailing wage survey results, when CNMI businesses continue to see H visa application rejections over a lack of an updated survey.

The Saipan Chamber of Commerce is also planning to update its 2011 prevailing wage survey funded by member-organizations because of lack of federal grants, but earlier announced doing the actual survey after the new 50-cent minimum wage increase on Sept. 30.

The CNMI’s minimum wage will increase to $6.05 an hour on Tuesday, up from the current $5.55 an hour.

Commerce announced yesterday that it received a grant from the U.S. Interior’s Office of Insular Affairs for the prevailing wage and workforce assessment study.

The department published its first CNMI prevailing wage survey on April 30, 2012. It collected and processed data “to produce reliable wage statistics on the types of occupations that exist in the CNMI’s economy in 2011.”

Occupation wage rates included both direct and indirect wages such as fringe benefits.

The 2011 survey also included workforce assessment on the current types and level of skills in the business community.

Commerce also announced yesterday that it received a grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Authority for the Commonwealth Economic Development Strategy planning phase.

It will be used for community planning focusing on CNMI economic development. The outcome of the CEDS planning process will be a five-year strategic plan for regional economic development.

Gov. Eloy S. Inos thanked federal counterparts “for their continued funding support for these important programs.”

“These programs are needed in order to effectuate and comply with federal requirements for foreign labor, as well as the strategic economic planning for the CNMI,” the governor said in a statement.

Commerce Secretary Sixto Igisomar, who has been on administrative leave since Monday, said the success of these grant awards “is truly from coordinated efforts from multiple agencies…and their hardworking staff.”

“Due to shortage of capacity and resources from our local government agencies, the application process to the award took longer than expected, but I am very happy that we are at this stage. We can now move forward with a new CEDS Commission to update our expired document, as well as initiate an immediate survey of prevailing wage that will capture new increased wage after September 2014,” Igisomar said.

Without its own updated prevailing wage survey, the CNMI could end up using Guam’s. Employers say Guam wages are much higher than the CNMI’s.

Saipan Chamber of Commerce president Alex Sablan said earlier that a number of H visa applications from the CNMI have already been rejected over a lack of a current prevailing wage survey.

The CNMI could see a spike in the number of H visa applications because of ongoing and planned construction projects but the approval rate would depend, among other things, on the availability of a new prevailing wage survey.