Raising minimum wage in CNMI will erase garment industry – Chamber of Commerce
\nRadio New Zealand International, New Zealand<\/p>\n
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Posted at 21:36 on 22 May, 2014 UTC
\nThe president of Saipan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Chamber of Commerce, Juan Guerrero, says moves by the U.S Congress to raise the minimum wage will erase what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s left of the garment industry in the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas within months.<\/p>\n
The controversial minimum wage bill, if enacted, will eventually more than double the U.S. minimum wage on CNMI from its current $3.05 to $7.25, over a number of years.
\nMr Guerrero says it can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t afford any wage hikes, given the Commonwealth\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ailing economic situation.<\/p>\n
He says many factories have already closed because they can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t compete with the low wages paid by developing countries that can now export their cheaper garments to the U.S.<\/p>\n
Garment sales in CNMI dropped 42 percent or about 16.7 million US dollars in April, compared to the same period last year.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153As the President of the Chamber of Commerce, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122know sometimes I see this as a major problem because smaller smaller garments are still here, but we really don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know. If there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s any increase in the minimum wage, then definitely the garment industry is history, in less than 60 days.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nMr Guerrero says the garment industry is one of the main industries for the Commonwealth, next to tourism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Raising minimum wage in CNMI will erase garment industry – Chamber of Commerce Radio New Zealand International, New Zealand Posted at 21:36 on 22 May, 2014 UTC The president of Saipan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Chamber of Commerce, Juan Guerrero, says moves by the U.S Congress to raise the minimum wage will erase what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s left of the garment industry […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n