“I made the decision to ask for the break last June after the Government Accountability Office reported that it could not predict what the impact of the wage increase would be on the fragile NMI economy,” Congressman Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan said in his electronic newsletter.
“I also consulted with the Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana Islands and the Saipan Chamber of Commerce. Both organizations assured me that the 50¢ wage increase that went into effect on Sept. 30 — last Thursday — was manageable, but asked for relief in 2011.”
Sablan said HANMI and the chamber “are to be congratulated for recognizing ‘the need for a fairly compensated workforce’ and for supporting the increase to $5.05 per hour that went into effect last week.”
He added, “It is important that workers earn a dignified wage and have money in their pockets to spend in our local economy. But, as the GAO has warned, increasing labor costs can cause companies to cut back on jobs or to reduce investment, which results in lost sales. So there is a fine balance that must be maintained.”
Sablan said the law the president signed instructs GAO to keep monitoring the CNMI economy and providing feedback to Congress.
“And as each year goes by we will continue to heed GAO’s analysis and work together with workers and the business community to make sure our economy prospers and everyone benefits,” he added.
