‘We are on a huge upswing’

Commerce Secretary Mark Rabauliman speaks in front of members of the Saipan Chamber of Commerce yesterday at the Kanoa Resort in Susupe. (Bea Cabrera)

Commerce Secretary Mark Rabauliman went yesterday into the details of a just released prevailing wage survey, saying a scheduled 50-cent increase in the minimum wage this month signals a huge economic upswing for the Commonwealth.

“I cannot speak for individual companies, but if they are not managing their business properly, it is easy to say that they [would] not [be] able to meet the 50-cent increase.

“Everything should be moving upwards rather than downwards and backwards. We should follow where our economic trend is going,” Rabauliman said.

Speaking at the Saipan Chamber of Commerce meeting yesterday at Kanoa Resort, Rabauliman went into details on how the latest Prevailing Wage and Workforce Study on the CNMI’s Occupational Titles and their Wages was collated that showed a 42-percent increase in wages across the board from 2014 to 2016.

The study is used by CNMI employers when petitioning workers for employment visas. When the CNMI still hadn’t had the results of the survey, they relied on the figures of Guam and Hawaii, which usually show higher wage rates.

The year 2016 was the third round of the CNMI prevailing wage study. The first was in 2011, followed by another in 2014, and then in 2016. The primary purpose of the study is to determine the types of occupations that exist and measure up the Pacific hourly wage rate for each of the identified occupation for the CNMI.

The PWWS was released in two separate results. The first part is called the 2016 CNMI Prevailing Wage and Workforce Assessment Study where the standard occupational code, detailed occupational titles, and hourly wage report were included.

Rabauliman said this showed the type of occupation and the hourly wage rates for each of the occupations.

The study was participated by a total of 1,485 employers in the CNMI: 1,350 on Saipan, 80 on Tinian, and 57 on Rota, while the total number of individual employees who participated was 19,827.

According to Rabauliman, 19,811 out of the 19,827 of the individual employees have valid occupation titles and 523 of them belong under the Detailed Occupation Titles in the CNMI.

Valid occupation titles are occupations that do not require a vocation or a specialty, while detailed occupation titles are occupations where individuals have a particular vocation or specialty such as doctors, lawyers, accountants, etc.

The study showed that, based on 19,518 individual employment records, the CNMI’s overall hourly wage rate mean was $12.38 and the median was $8.25.

The CNMI’s direct hourly wage rate mean was $10.87 and the median was $7.35.

Central Statistics director Justin Andrews said the hourly wage rate mean “is with fringe benefits.” Direct hourly wage rate mean, on the other hand, “does not include fringe benefits.”

Rabauliman said that they have submitted the result of the study to federal counterparts and are just waiting for these agencies to accept the results.

The second part of the results covered the workforce demographics and other characteristics, broken into citizenship, ethnic group, gender, island, industry, visa type, and by standard operation major titles. Hourly wage rate mean was used for each category. The mean is obtained by adding the occupation in the group, divided by the number of occupations in the group.

By citizenship, U.S. citizens comprise 41 percent of the total, with an hourly wage rate mean of $14.43. Filipino citizens comprise 31 percent, with an hourly wage rate mean of $8.91. Chinese citizens comprise 6 percent, with an hourly wage rate mean of $11.83.

By ethnic group, Filipinos comprise 31 percent of the total, with an hourly wage rate mean of $8.91. Pacific Islanders comprise 11 percent, with an hourly wage rate mean of $15.35. Chamorros comprise 10 percent, with an hourly wage rate mean of $11.61, and Chinese comprise 5 percent, with an hourly wage rate mean of $8.57.

The study emphasized that not every employer uses an ethnic classification system. The CNMI government, Commonwealth Healthcare Corp., and the Public School System use the federal reporting requirement and do not make distinctions between the various ethnic groups. They lump the Pacific ethnic group into Pacific Islander.

By gender, male comprise 53 percent of the total with an hourly wage rate mean of $12.44, while female comprise 42 percent with an hourly wage rate mean of $12.37.

By island, Saipan employs 96 percent of the total, with an hourly wage rate mean of $12.47; Tinian 3 percent, with an hourly wage rate mean of $11, and Rota 1 percent, with an hourly wage rate mean of $7.24.

By industry, accommodation and food services comprised 17 percent of the total, with an hourly wage rate mean of $12.66; public administration comprises 14 percent, with an hourly wage rate mean of $18.24; administrative and support and waste management etc. is at 9 percent, with an hourly wage rate mean of $8.22; construction was at 8 percent, with an hourly wage rate mean of $10.69; retail trade, 8 percent, with an hourly wage rate mean of $8.42; and educational services, 7 percent, with an hourly wage rate mean of $18.04.

By visa, U.S. citizens or non-visa workers comprise 53 percent of the total, CW workers comprise 34 percent, with an hourly wage rate mean of $8.46, and H1-B, at 3 percent, with an hourly wage rate mean of $17.09.

Under standard occupational classifications with major titles, office administration support occupations comprise 15 percent of the total, with an hourly wage rate mean of $11.35; management occupations comprise 11 percent, with an hourly wage rate mean of $20.57; food preparation and serving-related occupations, 10 percent, with an hourly wage rate mean of $8.62; sales and related occupations, 7 percent, with an hourly wage rate mean of $7.99; and construction and extraction occupation, 7 percent, with an hourly wage rate mean of $8.50.

“The importance of these data is to bring it out for public consumption. As for enforcement of minimum wage, there are other agencies that are responsible for that. The Labor Enforcement Division takes care of the enforcement,” Rabauliman said.

The next minimum wage increase is mandated by law this Sept. 20, with new minimum wage at $7.05.

For a copy of the complete report, click here. Download Document