Wanted: Literate Employees for Immediate Employment

Needed immediately! Hundreds of literate resident employees capable of reading and following instructions in work manuals, able to speak correct English, possess ability to write short reports, and perform simple math. Salary commensurate with ability to perform above activities. Must be motivated to work. If fairly literate, will train actual on-the-job work.

There is increasing pressure from the government to promote resident people to replace the CNMI’s heavy dependence upon non-resident workers. This is a good move, but research has shown that the literacy level of many of the prospective resident employees is quite low.

Private businesses are willing to hire and train resident workers. They are willing to pay a decent wage if the employee is capable of performing the required duties. In the long run it is good business sense to do so. However, unless the potential employee, whether resident or nonresident, brings a minimum level of literacy and motivation to his workplace, the employer wilt not be able to train him.

On-the-job-training and literacy training are not the same. If an employee can read, write, speak, and compute on an expected literacy level, he can easily and quickly be trained to master various job skills. However, if an employee has a low literacy level, it is almost impossible to use him in a responsible capacity. He will be relegated to the most menial tasks because he is unfit to deal with a job requiring mental astuteness. All he has brought to the job-place is a warm body.

The government, as is being done now, should not coerce businesses to hire people who cannot perform the simplest literate activities. It is not fair and quite cost ineffective. Any employer will train and pay an employee a fair wage if he brings a certain level of literacy commensurate with the job scope and a motivation to work.

The situation has been neglected too long. It is the duty and the responsibility of the government and the community to develop a literate work force. Educated workers are a community’s most valuable assets. A literate work force will also be an incentive for new businesses to set up operations in the CNMI.

This fact is visible in every developed country in the world. The growth of an economy can be correlated to the level of human assets. If a country has literate citizens, they can easily be trained to become skilled workers. Study the economic growth of such countries as Singapore, Japan, Taiwan, Korea and other economically developed nations. Underlining this growth are literate and skilled workers. Little raw material exists in those countries except a literate and skilled work force.

For years we have given lip service to the problem but little concerted effort to remedy the low-level literacy of many of our citizens. We cannot blame them entirely for their condition. Many of them did not study while in school and were “socially promoted” not realizing that they did not have the talent to compete in the job market until too late. After being refused positions without being told why or offered only menial jobs, they became discouraged. Little do these people understand their worth is minimal because they lack the basic rudiments of a literate person. Depressed, they have no place to go for help. The public school has failed them and
college is beyond their reach. Is there a solution?

Tomorrow I will outline a program concerning this situation. It will need the cooperation of the Administration, legislature, and the community. It will not take a lot of money to implement. It merely requires a strong desire to educate our most important asset–our people.