The first round of the prevailing wage survey that data company Hive Analytic is doing for the CNMI is on track and the initial finding is that there is a $4.30 difference between the CNMI and Guam\u2019s prevailing wage.<\/p>\n
Hive Analytic president Matt Deleon Guerrero disclosed this during a Saipan Chamber of Commerce meeting yesterday at the Pacific Islands Club, saying the first round of the prevailing wage survey was finished last April 22. The survey began last April 8.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe compared what we had against Guam\u2019s [prevailing wage], which would\u2019ve been the alternative if it were not for this survey. Approximately, on average, there was a $4.30 difference,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
That is by how much Guam wages are higher than that of the CNMI\u2019s.<\/p>\n
The Chamber jumpstarted the 2019 prevailing wage survey in March and hired Hive Analytic to conduct the survey in the CNMI. This survey aims to set the salaries of foreign workers being petitioned for work visas under the CNMI-Only Transitional Worker program, which was extended another 10 years by the U.S. Workforce Act.<\/p>\n
In the first round of the prevailing wage survey, or PWS, Hive Analytics captured 84 occupations in the CNMI using the \u201cthree employers and 30 employees\u201d rule.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese occupations were largely from the hotel hospitality sector: the chief executives, front desks, maids, housekeepers, and grounds maintenance people. \u2026We also captured a large number of occupations within the restaurant and food industry: chefs, waiters, waitresses, hostesses etc.,\u201d he said in his presentation to Chamber members at the Charley\u2019s Cabaret.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe also captured accountants, bookkeepers, and construction workers,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The Chamber has already written the Office of the Governor\u2019s about the results of the first round. <\/p>\n
He said he was told that the Office of the Governor has already sent the results to the U.S. Department of Labor over the weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe process now is to take those wages, determine if they meet the requirements and if they are going to be used. Once that happens, those wages and numbers according to the occupations will be published and available for everybody to use for their CW or H visa applications,\u201d Guerrero said.<\/p>\n
The PWS wages will cover CW applications for next year\u2026\u201dand will be applied for starting Oct. 1 next fiscal year in 2021 we are hoping that this survey will account for the 12-month requirement of the prevailing wage for those applications,\u201d Guerrero added.<\/p>\n
The second round of the survey will cover the rest of the occupations that Hive Analytics wasn\u2019t able to capture because survey requirements were not met.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are several of them that were very close in meeting the requirements so it can be reported. We had three employers but only 27 employees instead of 30, so these are the ones that we are trying to narrow down and trying to capture to make the survey statistically significant,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Some of the changes this time around include translating the PWS instructions on the forms to Korean, Chinese, and Japanese.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026We have translated [the forms] and sent those out to see if information barriers is one of the reasons why some employers were not able to submit their reports,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
To date, 700 employers have submitted their responses covering more than 11,000 employees in the initial survey and Guerrero is looking at expanding the reach of the survey so they can capture a wider target. <\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026We are still refining the data to make sure we are not requesting those who have already submitted their wages and trying to target it so we can get results within a one-week period for the second round,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Guerrero said the process usually takes six to seven months and \u201ctakes a whole staff and large apparatus to get it done\u2026but, together with the [CNMI] Department of Commerce, we did a large amount of survey results done within the seven-week period that we were shooting for.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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