NMI minimum wage hits fed ceiling
A snapshot of the CNMI based merely on its minimum wage paints a very different picture from just 11 years ago, in 2007, when the minimum wage was pegged at $3.05 an hour, making the CNMI a low-wage economy. That’s no longer true.
Starting in 2007, staggered 50-cent increases across many years to allow CNMI businesses time to absorb the impact eventually brought the CNMI’s minimum wage to the federal level of $7.25 an hour last Sept. 30.
Capt. (retired) James Burke is proud to say that he is the only American on Saipan who owns a mom-and-pop store—a small business owner that doesn’t mind making a small profit if he could offer better-priced goods to consumers.
Burke and his wife, Apple, are a two-person team that employs five other people to help them with their daily operations of the Friendly Market in San Jose.
Read more: https://www.saipantribune.com/index.php/nmi-minimum-wage-hits-fed-ceiling/