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Torres administration expects CW needs to ‘outpace’ available cap
The administration of Gov. Ralph DLG Torres acknowledged yesterday that hitting the cap was “expected” but it could not yet assess in which sector did the bulk of CW applications had gone to, or the extent of a remaining unmet labor force with the cap being hit, when answering questions from Saipan Tribune yesterday.
Officials say it is likely that the CW cap was distributed more this year a demand for construction workers to meet development project plans.
“With increased economic development in the CNMI it was expected that our labor needs would outpace the availability of foreign workers under the CW program this year,” said the Torres administration in a statement to Saipan Tribune.
“Since the beginning of this administration we have placed an emphasis on businesses pursuing U.S.-eligible workers as much as possible because the end of the transition period is only a few short years away and CW caps are required to decrease every year.”
“Seeing the CNMI reach the CW-1 cap this year will result in two major things, one is that businesses with a unmet labor need will have to strengthen its pursuit of U.S.-eligible workers and through that effort we are able to better present to federal officials in Washington, D.C. that we do not have the available labor force to continue our economic development without a foreign worker program, it said.
The statement went on to say that labor is critical to the economy and that through greater emphasis on training and hiring U.S.-eligible workers that larger the CNMI economy can “weather the brunt of this year’s labor limitations.”
Still, the fact remains that “we need more workers for tomorrow’s economy then presently available in the CNMI today,” the administration added, noting that this would be an issue to be addressed in full with U.S. delegate Gregorio Kilili Sablan (Ind-MP), business partners, and the CNMI Legislature.
