The GAO is due to release the findings of its wage study in April.
Congress has 30 days to review the report and recommend legislative action on how the next 50-cent wage hike in the CNMI and the American Samoa should be implemented.
CNMI Congressman Gregorio C. Sablan said “the next increase, if there’s an increase, will have to come from the GAO recommendation and it will happen on Oct. 1st of this year.”
He added, “Whether it’s delayed or will proceed [annually], we have the time in between to look at the impact of the wage increase.”
Sablan said he does not object to workers getting paid more for their hard work but the government needs to find a balance in consideration of the private sector’s operations.
The U.S. Congress passed legislation in 2007 increasing by 50 cents every year the CNMI and American Samoa’s minimum wage rates until they reach the current federal rate of $7.25 by 2015.
Last December, President Obama signed an omnibus spending bill that also delayed the minimum wage increase in the CNMI and American Samoa from May 2010 to Sept. 30, 2010.
The CNMI’s current wage rate is $4.55 an hour.
