Governor Ralph DLG. Torres and Lt. Governor Arnold I. Palacios, through the CNMI Department of Commerce’s Central Statistics Division would like to thank all the businesses and employers who participated in the 2020 Prevailing Wage Study (2020 PWS).
“This report would not have been possible without the participation of our local businesses. The information gathered from the Prevailing Wage Study is vital to our short and long-term economic recovery plans, especially as we navigate through the current COVID-19 pandemic. Lt. Governor Palacios and I would like to express our sincere gratitude to all the businesses that took time out of their busy schedules to complete this survey,” said Governor Torres.
Preliminary results of the 2020 Prevailing Wage Study survey show a response rate of 70 percent with 713 total businesses registered, 632 reporting over 15,000 total employees with 487 detailed occupational titles recorded. Data collection began on June 11, 2020 and was concluded on July 10, 2020.
“We began the survey with the goal to achieve a response rate as close to 100 percent as possible. Although we did not hit that mark, I am still very pleased with the 70 percent response rate, considering the devastating effects of the pandemic on our local businesses, employers, and island community. Now that the data collection phase is complete, the PWS team at the Central Statistics Division will diligently work in the coming days to clean the data and produce the CW-1 Occupation and Wage Statistics report for the Governor to transmit to the US Department of Labor for review and approval. I also want to thank all our businesses on Saipan, Rota and Tinian and everyone else involved, for their efforts on the 2020 Prevailing Wage Study,” said Secretary of Commerce Mark O. Rabauliman.
The Northern Marianas Islands US Workforce Act of 2018 requires the CNMI to produce a CNMI Prevailing Wage Report for the determination and approval of CW-1 work visas on an annual basis.
Director of the Central Statistics Division Justin Andrew commented, “It is very important that the survey gathers information from all the CNMI businesses and employers to ensure that an hourly wage rate is derived from the maximum number of Occupational Titles available for employers when applying for CW-1 visas. The portal has been closed for data collection, but it is still open for registration only and we want to encourage those who were not able to complete the 2020 PWS survey, including any newly formed businesses, to visit the portal and register so that we have their contact information for next year’s survey.”
The Central Statistics Division plans to begin the 2021 Prevailing Wage Study survey in mid-spring of 2021. Businesses can access the portal at http://cnmidata.commerce.gov.mp/.
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