From Feb. 1 to Nov. 25 of this year, the number of local applicants who registered with the division for job vacancies announced on-line totaled 1,046.
The number of registered local applicants recorded from Jan. 1 to Sept. 30, 2007 was 2,114.
These were the only available figures in 2007 and 2008.
Alice I. Concepcion of the division’s statistics section said these local applicants were those who registered through Labor’s Web site.
She said there could be more locals who registered in person or who went directly to the companies.
The available records do not indicate how many of the local applicants were hired.
But the figures indicate that of the 1,820, which included nonresidents, who registered for jobs, only 194 were hired.
Last year, the number of applicants hired from among 2,114 local applicants was 342.
During a six-year period, the number of registered local applicants increased steadily — 558 in 2002, 848 in 2003, 1,286 in 2004, 1,809 in 2005, 2,098 in 2006 and 2,114 in 2007.
Labor’s statistics also showed that of the 6,721 job inquiries made online, 5,350 received replies.
According to Labor, 7,718 employers posted job vacancy announcements for renewals, transfers, replacements and fresh hiring.
Companies related to food preparation and serving topped the list of employers with 1,326 on-line announcements.
Sales and related occupations had 1,064 announcements while construction and extraction jobs had 933.
The cash-strapped CNMI government, which pays much more than the private sector, is the main employer of locals.
The private sector remains dependent on nonresident workers who are paid the current minimum wage rate of $4.05 an hour.
