Labor Market and Workforce

Samoa Tuna Processors says its hiring for its new fish processing plant in American Samoa will not happen until the 3rd quarter of next year.

Alfonso Pete Galeai told the Senate Budget and Operations Committee they plan to hire more than 1,000 workers next year.

He was being questioned on projections in the new fiscal year budget for the American Samoa Government of increased tax revenues due to hiring at the canneries.

But Alfonso says the hiring will depend on market demand and when the renovations for the plant at Atu’u will be completed.

To identify challenges to employment growth and identify potential policy interventions for improving labor markets. American Samoa is cited in only a few statistics, but other South Pacific jurisdictions are thoroughly covered.

Focus on Fiji, Vanuatu, Kirabati, PNG, Tonga, but policy discussion is relevant to American Samoa, and statistical comparisons include other Pacific Islands.

2010 GAO Report on the Impact of the increase in the Minimum Wage in American Samoa and Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

This document provides an overview of Pacific Island labor market conditions and offers recommendations for improving them.

Report prepared for American Samoa Industry Committee No. 27, to use in determining minimum wages in American Samoa.

Excerpt from study:

In 2007, the United States enacted a law incrementally raising the minimum wages in American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) until they equal the U.S. minimum wage. American Samoa's minimum wage increased by $.50 three times, and the CNMI's four times before legislation delayed the increases, providing for no increase in American Samoa in 2010 or 2011 and none in the CNMI in 2011. As scheduled, American Samoa's minimum wage will equal the current U.S. minimum wage of $7.25 in 2018, and the CNMI's will reach it in 2016.