Under the stimulus package signed into law by the United States President Barack Obama yesterday, a report on the impact of the minimum wage increase in the CNMI and American Samoa has been pushed back one year to 2010.
The earlier version of the package has promised to get a report on the effect of the minimum wage increases over the last three years to Congress within weeks.
But with the completed package has set that deadline at April the 15th in 2010, which means another 50-cent increase will occur in May this year.
This will push the Northern Marianas minimum wage to $4.55 per hour.
By 2015, the minimum wage in the CNMI will increase to the federal level of $7.25 per hour.
A spokesperson for the Northern Marianas Governor, Charles Reyes, says they are disappointed at the delay, but he's told the Saipan Tribune that it's better than having no study being done at all.
