In his report to the Legislature, Labor Secretary Gil M. San Nicolas said his department wants to provide fair employment opportunities to skills and talents that support the CNMI’s economy “in ways that recognize and balance the commonwealth’s objectives with respect to full employment for its citizens.”
According to San Nicolas, the objective of the new labor law, P.L. 15-108, is to achieve high-quality employment for citizens of the CNMI in productive businesses.
Labor at the same time has launched a Web site, www.marianaslabor.net, that caters to the needs of employers that need to hire workers, he said.
The “automation involved in the Web site has freed up more time for {Labor’s] Employment Services to work with individual citizens seeking jobs to help them in their search,” San Nicolas said.
In 2007, there were 2,312 U.S. citizens and U.S. permanent residents registered with Employment Services but only 477 were successfully placed directly by the office, he added.
There were 2,087 enrolled in 2008 but only 233 were placed directly by Employment Services.
“A significant segment of unemployed persons who would, in prior years, have relied solely on Employment Service are now able to find their own jobs using the department’s interactive Web site that lists available jobs,” San Nicolas said.
