FTZs should hire more locals

Businesses that will be established in the planned Free Trade Zone on Saipan must make an assurance that they will tap the local work force to solve the unemployment problem in the CNMI.

While the bill creating FTZ has yet to be passed, Felix Nogis, director of the Job Training and Partnership Act, is worried that the locals will not be hired by future investors in the economic site.

Since various government agencies, including the Department of Labor and Immigration, have already failed to monitor whether the private sector complies with the law on the 20 percent local hiring requirement, Nogis said he is not optimistic that businesses in FTZ will follow the law.

While recognizing that inadequacy of the local labor pool, Nogis said the measure must ensure that investors comply with the required number of local workers.

“We are not asking so much. All we’re asking is that they hire at least two or three so we get them off the streets and they pay taxes,” he said.

Nogis echoed the concerns raised by Senate Vice President Thomas P. Villagomez regarding the uncertainty on the possibility of employing local residents by businessmen since FTZ establishments would require high-skilled workers.

With 28,000 nonresident workers on the island, Nogis said he cannot understand why there is a 14 percent unemployment rate on the island. This only proves that the private sector prefer foreign workers because their salaries and benefits are much cheaper compared to locals, he said.

The low wage level in the private sector has led many resident workers to seek employment in the government.

According to Nogis, the fundamental problem in the CNMI must be resolved by increasing the benefits provided by the private sector so that it would at least equal those offered by the government.

The Commonwealth government has provided these businesses a package of incentives, including low land leases, but they still prefer guest workers.

Earlier, Nogis warned that the lack of available jobs for locals may lead to increase in the number of food stamp recipients and contribute to the growing crime rate, including juvenile delinquency.

He also noted the lack of interest among private companies to assist in accepting students for the on-the-job training program and eventually provide them gainful employment.