American Samoa's Congressman Faleomavaega Eni has called for the federal minimum wage law in the territory to be modified.
Faleomavaega has been working with the U.S. House Committee on Education and Labor to try and modify the current law which mandates a 50 cent hike annually until local wages reached the new U.S. level of $7.25 per hour.
The congressman says the recently released U.S. Government Accountability Office report on the impact of minimum wage in American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas illustrates just how limited American Samoa's economic options are, given the Territory's overreliance on the tuna fishing and processing industries.
He says the report reaffirms the need for the minimum wage to be modified until such a time as American Samoa can stabilize its economy, and a plan of action can be put in place.
