Check, check, check
THE CNMI presents a compelling case for the labor stabilization bill that the islands’ delegate introduced in the U.S. Congress. The legislation checks all the key boxes.
It would allow the CNMI to secure the workforce it requires while protecting U.S. workers and supporting the development of the local economy.
This, in turn, reaffirms the Covenant provision, which states: “The Government of the United States will assist the Government of the Northern Mariana Islands in its efforts to achieve a progressively higher standard of living for its people as part of the American economic community and to develop the economic resources needed to meet the financial responsibilities of local self-government.”
Moreover, the measure would help “minimize, to the greatest extent practicable, potential adverse economic and fiscal effects of phasing-out the Commonwealth’s nonresident contract worker program and … maximize the Commonwealth’s potential for future economic and business growth,” as reflected in the statement of U.S. congressional intent in the 2008 law that extended federal immigration law to these remote islands with a small and now shrinking population and an increasingly depressed economy.
Once again, the seen and the unseen
EVERYTHING is interconnected in a market-based economy. A business that shuts down because of labor shortages means job losses for U.S. workers. In the CNMI, a company that wants to hire CWs is required by law to hire a certain number of qualified U.S. workers. The hiring of CWs must be approved by the federal government and are subject to federal rules, which include prevailing wage rates. (These are usually higher than the federal minimum wage rate.)
CWs can only be hired if there are no qualified U.S. workers for those jobs as determined by the federal government. In other words, the jobs filled by CWs allow the hiring of qualified U.S. workers — while funding the workforce training programs for U.S. workers and generating revenue for the main employer of local workers, which is the CNMI government.
Consider this
IN a normal or less dysfunctional economy, a company shuts down because of competition and/or insufficient demand for its products or services. If a company closes primarily because of overly restrictive government regulations — such as the “touchback” — then not only will CWs and local workers lose their jobs, but the community will also lose products and services it relies on.
By contrast, the loss of redundant government positions — whose existence is premised on politics, not economics — still leaves affected employees with the option of seeking employment in the private sector, while freeing public funds for services that benefit the public rather than merely advancing politicians’ election prospects.
Another thing
THE arbitrary CW program deadline set by far-away politicians doesn’t mean the CNMI can no longer hire foreign workers. It means CNMI employers must instead rely on the equally — if not more — problematic H-visas, designed for a nation of 340 million people with a high-wage economy, a system whose inadequacy continues to be debated in the U.S.
Who else but politicians would expect a small island economy to transform itself into one comparable to the U.S. simply by setting deadlines? This begs the question. Why hasn’t the U.S. government tried the same approach and tested its effectiveness?
Meanwhile, according to a recent op-ed in The Wall Street Journal:
“Research from the Center for Migration Studies finds that the undocumented workforce in the U.S. is large and overwhelmingly employed across key sectors of the economy. Many of the 675,000 immigrants deported last year were working to build data centers, manufacturing plants, energy infrastructure and housing. Who will take their place when the U.S. has six million unfilled jobs?”
Come on down
BY depriving businesses of an adequate labor pool, the current federal CW program “protects” hypothetical U.S. workers while harming actual U.S. workers. A lack of workers is bad for the islands’ already struggling economy, the revenue-starved CNMI government, and the U.S. citizens it serves.
U.S. lawmakers, policymakers, and bureaucrats should visit the CNMI to see firsthand the economic, labor, and immigration situation here. They should speak with employers and employees and observe the hiring process. They must be reminded of these islands’ small indigenous population — about 17,000 people — who, like other U.S. citizens, have many career options, including those in the States.
What the CNMI primarily needs right now is federal assistance in changing federal rules that are harming those they are supposed to benefit.
The CNMI needs a better federal workforce law so it can once again grow its economy and become less dependent on federal assistance. Surely that is not too much to ask.
Zaldy Dandan is the recipient of the NMI Society of Professional Journalists’ Best in Editorial Writing Award and the NMI Humanities Award for Outstanding Contributions to Journalism. His four books are available on amazon.com/.
