Local
Thursday, September 02, 2010

Employers surveyed for jobs inventory

By Haidee V. Eugenio
Reporter

Hundreds of employers in the CNMI are now being surveyed online for their jobs inventory, data from which is expected to help provide employment for U.S. citizens and to help determine the extension of the transition period for foreign workers to remain in the Commonwealth, among other things.

The “2010 CNMI Jobs Inventory Survey” is being conducted by the CNMI Department of Labor.

Douglas Brennan, president of the Saipan Chamber of Commerce, encouraged businesses to take the time to fill out the survey form, which is also done in line with Public Law 17-1 or the CNMI omnibus immigration law.

PL 17-1 makes the Commonwealth Code conform with the requirements of the federalization law, Title VII of U.S. Public Law 110-229, with respect to federal control of immigration and deportation. It converts the mandatory 20- to 30-percent local hiring preference into a floating benchmark.

“If employers don't fill up the form, then they could expect a call or visit from Labor to make sure they participate in the survey,” Brennan told Saipan Tribune.

The Chamber, the largest business organization in the CNMI with some 150 members, held its monthly meeting yesterday afternoon at The Palms Resort in San Roque.

Employers are asked to complete the survey within two weeks of receiving the request or as soon as possible.

They are asked to report on each job for which a worker was paid at any time during the month of August 2010.

Labor Secretary Gil M. San Nicolas, in his cover letter for the survey, said the Commonwealth needs the survey in order to qualify for certain federal grants, and to “assist with respect to the U.S. Secretary of Labor's determination on the extension of the transition period for foreign workers to remain in the Commonwealth.

San Nicolas said the survey will also help plan for and provide better employment training of U.S. citizens.

“(The survey also seeks) to provide the Commonwealth government and the public with information we do not now have because the U.S. agencies do not collect this information in the CNMI on a current basis,” San Nicolas said.

The Labor secretary said the information that employers provide is kept strictly confidential and will be used only to prepare statistical compilations that do not identify individuals or employers.

Some of the information requested by the survey form include the employer's name and employer number or TIN/SSN, as well as their business expectations - fewer aliens, same number of aliens, more aliens.

Employers are also asked about the O-NET job code, their employees' job title, job status, worker's name, Form I-9 status, and Form I-9 ID number.

The federal government took over CNMI immigration on Nov. 28, 2009.