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Poverty Growing In Northern Marianas, Study Finds

By Agnes E. Donato on Saipan
Friday: April 11, 2008

Poverty is increasing in the Northern Marianas, according to a recently released study. The report looked at population trends in the island group from 2000 to 2005.

The Northern Marianas Department of Commerce, using data from a U.S. Census Bureau survey, said 53.5 percent of the commonwealth’s population lived in households with income below the poverty level in 2005. This is an increase from 46 percent in 2000.

The average income made by each person in the Northern Marianas dropped by nearly one third to $6,178 in 2004. The commonwealth's per capita income was $9,151 in 2000.

Meanwhile, unemployment soared to 8 percent in 2005, from 4 percent of the labor force in 2000.

These findings are part of the CNMI Household, Income, and Expenditures Survey that the Northern Marianas government presented to the U.S. Department of Interior's Office of Insular Affairs on Saipan earlier this week.

The U.S. Census Bureau conducted the survey in the last quarter of 2005. Last year, the U.S. Dept. of the Interior agreed to provide funds so the data files could be tabulated. The Northern Marianas government asked the work to be undertaken amid talks about minimum wage hikes and a federal takeover of local immigration.

The commonwealth government is hoping the data will help its campaign against further minimum wage hikes and a “federalized” immigration system. The Fitial administration believes both plans will damage the Northern Marianas’ struggling economy.

“This 2005 HIES, and the 2008 Comprehensive Assessment and Impact Analysis Report we will present later, will allow OIA to represent better to the United States Congress and the [Bush] Administration the real impact we face with our fragile islands’ economy threatened by forces apparently outside our control,” said Richard Pierce, the governor’s special assistant for trade relations and economic affairs.

The Commerce Department figures, released Thursday, show the median household income in the CNMI in 2004 was $17,138, a significant decline from $22,898 in 2000. Similarly, the median household income plunged from $37,015 in 2000 to $25,172 in 2004.

Of the 16,000 households that reported household income in 2004, about 28 percent made less than $10,000. A survey done in 2000 showed only 20 percent of households bringing in less than $10,000.

A downward trend was also observed in family income figures. The median family income was down to $19,625 in 2004, from $25,853 in 2000. The mean family income also posted a decline to $28,461 in 2004 from $37,986 four years prior.

Twenty-three percent of 11,500 families in the Northern Marianas that reported family income in 2004 earned less than $10,000. In 2000, only 16.5 percent of families had income lower than $10,000.

In 2005, the people in the labor force were fewer by 13 percent compared with 2000. Of the 38,533 in the labor force, 92 percent had jobs and 8 percent were jobless.

Non-U.S. citizens comprised about 78 percent of the total employed persons in the CNMI in 200, while 22 percent were U.S. citizens. Asians comprised 75 percent of those employed, Pacific Islanders were about 21 percent, and Caucasians less than 2 percent.

At the time of the survey, 31 percent of employed people worked in the garment industry. Since then, many of the factories have closed due to due to changes in global trade rules. Hotels had the second largest number of employees, with 14 percent of those employed.

The government provided jobs to 9 percent of the employed population, and the retail trade to 7 percent.

Of the 3,200 unemployed in 2005, 68 percent were U.S. citizens and 32 percent were non-U.S. citizens. Chamorros were 35 percent of the island group’s total unemployed, Asians were 24 percent, Micronesians 16 percent, and Carolinians 15 percent.

The census show the CNMI population dropped 4.7 percent to 65,927 in 2005, compared with 2000. Saipan accounts for 60,608 of the total. Tinian had 2,829 people and Rota 2,490.

Persons aged 20 to 44 years made up 48 percent of the total population. Those aged below 20 comprised 32 percent of the population, and those above 44 years made up 20 percent. This is because the large number of migrant workers in the Northern Marianas is in the 20 to 44 age group.

Females, who make up 53 percent of the population, outnumbered the males, 47 percent. There were 87 males to every 100 females in the commonwealth in 2005.

Just over half (50.3 percent) of the Northern Marianas total population were U.S. citizens, while slightly less than half (49.7 percent) were non-U.S. citizens.

About 56 percent of the Northern Marianas total population was born outside and migrated here, while 44 percent was born within the Commonwealth. Seventy-five percent of the total migrants came to the Northern Marianas for employment.

Of the total number of migrants, 44 percent have been in the Northern Marianas less than five years, 16 percent have been here 5 to 9 years, 30 percent have been here 10 to 19 years, and about 10 percent have been here 20 or more years, as of 2005.