Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — “The determination of the appropriate minimum wage [for American Samoa] should be based on the carrying capacity of the economy to absorb any increase in minimum wage without substantially curtailing employment,” according to the governor’s appointed Minimum Wage Task Force’s 18-page report to Gov. Lolo Matalasi Moliga.

“It is our contention that the US Congress established a series of minimum wage increases with automatic effectuation without considering the carrying capacity of our local economy,” it says.

The report was submitted to the governor last Wednesday for his review while the US Government Accountability Office team was on island to assess the impact of the federal minimum wage on American Samoa.

Lolo had provided to the GAO team the task force’s report, which restated that consequences of the federal mandate minimum wages resulted in the closure of Chicken of the Sea and Samoa Tuna Processors canneries — curtailing “thousands of jobs, causing its economy to plummet”.

“Given these actual devastating consequences, it is a foregone conclusion that our remaining tuna canning plant — StarKist — will experience the same fate suffered by the other two canneries if the federal minimum wage continues to escalate without determining the devastating impact on our economy,” the report says.

According to the task force, the territory’s economy is unique and starkly different from all states and territories; and aside from ASG, the remaining and only pervasive economic driving force is StarKist, “which affects every aspect of life in the islands.”

“Our main objective is to express to the US Congress the importance of involving the territory in the process of determining the applicable minimum wage for American Samoa,” the task force says.

PROBLEM STATEMENT

The report notes that American Samoa’s economy is extremely volatile and has already shown its vulnerability and susceptibility to both internal and external shocks. The report emphasizes the following objectives:

•     Request the US Congress to establish a Minimum Wage Determination Process that will ensure full inclusion and participation by American Samoa to determine its requisite minimum wage levels and eliminate the current automatic institution of the set amount of a minimum wage increase every three (3) years;

•     Clearly demonstrate the economic devastation that has and will result if the existing minimum wage escalation continues;

•     Comprehensively show that the economy of American Samoa is comprised of a multitude of anomalies, which clearly negate and invalidate standard comparison with the economies of states and territories; and,

•     Recommend for consideration a locally based Minimum Wage Determination Framework that is sensitive to the Territory of American Samoa’s economic environment, social and economic anomalies, and private sector idiosyncrasies.

Samoa News will report more on the report, in future editions.

Task force members include seven ASG officials — Commerce director, Keniseli Lafaele; the governor’s executive assistant Iulogologo Joseph Periera; Port Administration director Taimalelagi Dr. Claire Poumele; treasurer Ueligitone Tonumaipe’a; ASG Budget Office director Catherine Saelua; Human Resources director Eseneiaso J. Liu; and Public Works director Faleosina Voigt.

Members from the private sector are: StarKist official Taotasi Archie Soliai; businesswoman and chairperson of the America Samoa Chamber of Commerce, Ella Gurr; businesswoman Leilua Stevenson; and businessman Solip Hong, who is also the chair of the ASG Fisheries Task Force.

Co-chairs are Lafaele and Iulogologo.