Labor’s employment services director Alfred Pangelinan told reporters that yesterday’s job fair at the multi-purpose center in Susupe “marks a new era” in CNMI Labor’s relationship with employers.
He said 5,000 locals have registered on CNMI Labor’s website and are looking for jobs that are expected to become vacant soon.
Yesterday, over 200 U.S. citizens and permanent residents went to the job fair that included 21 different companies.
Pangelinan said they will hold more job fairs to continue reaching out to employers and unemployed locals.
He said they originally invited 38 companies to the job fair so the 21 firms showed they were keeping their commitment to consider the local workforce.
“And we appreciate that. Hopefully there are more employees who will join us,” Pangelinan added.
He said in an effort to help more locals find work in the private sector, CNMI Labor came up with different approaches. These include a counseling program to determine an individual’s interest in private sector jobs and ensure “employment stability.”
CNMI Labor also helps locals enhance their resumé-writing skills and inform them about “company traditions.”
Pangelinan urges locals not to wait for something to happen.
“Come to us if you need help and knock on our doors,” he said.
Some companies may be “hiding job vacancies,” he added.
Labor Secretary Gil San Nicolas, for his part, said that since the federal government has taken over the local immigration system, all that is left for his department to do is to ensure jobs for U.S. workers.
The number of Labor’s employees is now down to 26, from 100 during the peak of the garment industry here, he added.
He said many have chosen to retire while others are now working for other government agencies.
For nonresident workers who have pending cases against their employers, San Nicolas said the remedy is an administrative order and filing a case in the court.
For those who have filed claims, he said Labor has taken steps to resolve them.
But in cases where the employers have already left the island, “there’s only so much we can do about it,” he added.
Invest in US workers
Congressman Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, who went to the job fair, praised CNMI Labor for helping U.S. workers find jobs.
Employers, he added, can now invest in U.S. workers because eventually the nonresident CW workers will be “zeroed out.”
“So they need to start investing in local workers. If the worker is eligible please make it easier for everybody,” Sablan said.
Times are tough, he added, and no one can claim that U.S. workers don’t want to work.
He noted the turnout for such job fairs had been “high.”
“We are going to continue to find a way to get local people working because they need jobs,” he said.
