‘Hundreds of nonresident jobs available for locals’

Preliminary audit findings showed that there are hundreds of positions in the private sector that can be occupied by qualified local residents, said Public Auditor Michael Sablan.

“From what we’ve seen, there are hundreds of positions in all levels [that can be occupied by qualified resident workers],” said Sablan in an interview yesterday.

Sablan made a preliminary report on the jobs audit at the Legislature yesterday afternoon.

He said his office aims to submit a complete audit report to the Legislature and the governor on Dec. 15.

House Vice Speaker Justo Quitugua said that based on OPA’s presentation, it was found that many employers in the CNMI have been coming up with schemes to avoid hiring local residents.

For example, he said the private sector pays as much as $50 per hour to a nonresident but never puts that kind of rate in its advertisements.

“There are highly paid positions. They pay a manager for as high as $50 an hour and an accountant as high as $20 per hour but they only advertise the minimum wage to discourage the resident workers from applying,” Quitugua said.

Further, Quitugua said that some employers have bypassed even the job categories reserved for resident workers.

“The job categories for locals have been bypassed by creating different job titles but with the same responsibilities,” he said.

“For managerial level, they would come up with a senior manager or resident manager—different titles to ask for exemption and be able to hire a nonresident worker. For a receptionist, they’d come up with a different title to give the job to a nonresident worker,” said the lawmaker.

He said he has asked the OPA to provide him a complete list of companies that are “abusing and circumventing” the law.

“This practice should stop. We should impose fines for employers who violate or circumvent the law,” he said.

He said the Legislature would await a recommendation from OPA to amend the Nonresident Workers Act relating to the job categories provision.

The Fitial administration earlier asked the OPA to do the jobs audit in the private sector to identify jobs being held by nonresident workers that could be filled by qualified resident workers.

There are some 30,000 nonresident worker permits issued each year.

Saipan Chamber of Commerce vice president Alex Sablan has said that the government is looking at finding 500 to 1,000 positions in the private sector for local residents.