By Haidee V. Eugenio
Variety Assistant Editor

ONLY 20 percent or 421 of the 2,098 locals who registered with the government’s job placement program in calendar year 2006 were hired by the private sector that is bracing for a federal increase in the minimum wage from $3.05 an hour to $7.25.
The number of registered unemployed residents is in addition to the thousands of nonresident workers mostly from China, the Philippines and Bangladesh displaced by the closures of garment factories and other private businesses in the CNMI in recent years.
The 20 percent hiring rate of locals in 2006 was lower than the 22 percent in 2005, but this was because of an increase in the number of residents who were looking for jobs, according to Alice Concepcion, acting supervisor of the Department of Labor’s Division of Employment and Services Training.
Labor’s DEST, which administers the job placement program, recorded 2,098 locals who were looking for jobs in 2006 compared to 1,809 in 2005.
“There were 421 residents who were employed in 2006 compared to 389 in 2005 but the increase in the number of those who registered last year made even that improvement in the hiring rate,” Concepcion told Variety yesterday.
The government does not have current data on the number of residents who do not have jobs. However, many unemployed residents register with Labor’s DEST to seek jobs in the private sector.
Of the 2,098 locals who registered with the government’s job placement program last year, 421 were hired and 1,246 are actively seeking employment. The remaining 431 are considered inactive because they could no longer be reached for job placement due to changes made in their addresses or contact numbers without informing DEST.
The latest data from Labor showed that a majority or 75 percent of the 2,098 locals who registered with DEST were walk-in applicants, while 23 percent were referred by the Nutrition Assistance Program which administers the food stamp program.
The remaining registrants were referred to the job placement program by the Superior Court or by the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation.
Moreover, of the 2,098 unemployed locals, 355 registered during the first quarter of 2006; 347 in the second quarter; 346 in the third quarter; and 292 in the fourth quarter. The remaining 758 were carry-overs from the previous year.