The Legislature must address the issue of the CNMI minimum wage to entice local residents to join the private sector and fill technical jobs currently dominated by foreign workers, according to a report from Northern Marianas College.
Local residents are reluctant to take up technical or vocational programs because the job categories under these fields offer low wages, the report said.
“The student enrollment in the technical/vocational programs is extremely low due to lack of interest on the part of local residents who feel that it is a waste of time to enter these fields because of the low salaries currently being offered in these job categories,” NMC said.
“The Legislature must address the issue of increasing the CNMI’s minimum wage. Our leaders and policy makers must also take a proactive stance in educating and/or providing incentives to local employers for hiring local residents,” NMC said.
The CNMI minimum wage rate is $3.05 an hour, but foreign workers are given non-monetary benefits not provided to their local counterparts.
Due to concerns in Washington, D.C. regarding local labor and immigration policies in the early 1990s, the CNMI government enacted legislation to gradually increase the minimum wage. This law, however, was repealed in early 1996.
