USDOL approves final round of NMI Prevailing Wage Survey

The U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration’s Office of Foreign Labor Certification has approved the final round of submissions for the CNMI Prevailing Wage Survey, according to an Office of the Governor statement last Friday.

The Northern Mariana Islands U.S. Workforce Act of 2018 states that the Department shall make available to employers an occupational wage survey conducted by the governor of Commonwealth of the CNMI, and in the absence of an approved occupational wage survey, the Occupational Employment Statistics mean wage for the particular SOC in Guam will be considered the prevailing wage. Where there is no Guam OES mean wage, the prevailing wage issued will be the national mean wage adjusted for purposes of the CW-1 program.

OFLC received the prevailing wage data from the CNMI, which in total captured the wages for 291 occupations based on CNMI survey results. Employers can begin applying with these wages on July 1, 2019. All occupational wage data and the technical notes can be found at https://www.foreignlaborcert.doleta.gov/pdf/CW-1_Wage_Table.pdf.

“I would like to once again thank the U.S. Department of Labor and their Office of Foreign Labor Certification for another successful review and approval of the 291 CNMI occupations covered under our 2019 Prevailing Survey,” said Gov. Ralph DLG Torres.

“I want to especially thank the Saipan Chamber of Commerce, CNMI Department of Commerce Central Statistics Division, the CNMI Department of Labor, Hive Analytics, and DataTalks for their roles in executing the survey,” he added. “This process is important for our economy and beneficial for our businesses so that we can achieve organic wage increases for our workers.”

Saipan Chamber of Commerce president Velma Palacios states “We are grateful for the expedited approval of additional CNMI-based wage determinations across more occupations. The approval of these wages helps stabilize our economy as we continue to recover from Typhoon Yutu and also adjust to varying tourism markets.”

The Saipan Chamber of Commerce is a non-profit organization representing Saipan’s private sector. For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/SPNChamber or visit their website at www.saipanchamber.com. (PR)