US Labor takes part in workforce summit

An official from the U.S. Department of Labor will participate in today’s workforce summit on Saipan via a live feed from San Francisco, California.

Summit planning committee chair Eric Plinske said Rosemary Cowan of the U.S. Department of Labor Employment Training Administration will join the luncheon forum from San Francisco.
“She is our guest speaker. She’ll be answering questions. She’ll discuss federal initiatives. She’ll probably tell us about her recent visit here,” said Plinske.

He said Cowan came to Saipan in August to mainly assess the government workforce in the CNMI.

Another guest speaker in today’s conference is Maria Conneley, director of the Guam Department of Labor.

Both resource persons will be featured at the luncheon activity.

The summit, which will be attended by acting Gov. Timothy P. Villagomez and other top government officials, begins at 7:30am at Hibiscus Hall of Fiesta Resort & Spa.

There will be three breakout sessions to discuss what positions to focus on for nonresident workers, minimum wage hike, and hiring of more local residents.

Plinske’s group will also present its survey result among CNMI employers. The survey asked employers to account their job needs, cite obstacles to hiring local residents, and give their opinion on the proposed minimum wage hike. It contains 20 questions, which asks, among others, why employers could not fill their job positions with local residents and if they are in favor of a CNMI minimum wage increase.

The questionnaire also asks employers to rate the effectiveness of schools in the CNMI as well as University of Guam and University of Hawaii in providing the CNMI with a qualified workforce.

Plinske, director of the Northern Marianas College Small Business Development Center, said his team has gathered 231 filled out survey forms, most of them from private employers.

The summit, which is co-sponsored by the Workforce Investment Agency, aims to offer an in-depth discussion of employment issues facing local residents as well as the public and private sectors.

The summit seeks to gather business and government leaders to discuss the CNMI employment needs with a goal of developing the local workforce to fill positions that are currently occupied by guest workers.