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New minimum wages for American Samoa go into effect

fili@samoanews.com

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Screen shot as of last Saturday morning of the updated American Samoa minimum wage poster on the US Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division website, indicating the new 40 cent per hour wage hike which became effective yesterday, Sept. 30, 2018.

The federally mandated minimum wage increase covers all 17 industry sectors in American Samoa.

Under the new minimum wage, the canneries — the largest private employer in American Samoa and includes the can plant in Satala — the rate is $5.56 per hour.

The American Samoa Government, the largest employer in the territory, falls under the ‘Government Employees Industry', where the new minimum wage is $5.21 per hour.

ASG officials reiterated to Samoa News over the weekend that the new fiscal year 2019 budget — which begins today, Oct. 1, 2018 includes minimum wage hikes for affected employees. However, the officials didn’t have the specific numbers available over the weekend regarding the total number of affected government employees.

Effective Sept. 30, 2018, the highest minimum wage industry in the territory is “Stevedoring, Lighterage and Maritime Shipping Agency Activities” at $6.39 per hour and the lowest minimum wage is $4.98 in garment manufacturing.

The new minimum wage poster adds further information to the “Miscellaneous Activities” industry, to “Includes Domestic Workers”, with the new minimum wage rate of $5 per hour.

Domestic workers, covers all those who are brought in to do domestic work at a person’s home. USDOL made this clear last year when questions were raised over whether a person brought in from Samoa or recruited locally as a baby-sitter or house keeper, is considered a domestic worker.

Meanwhile, the government’s 10-member Minimum Wage Assessment Working Group is expected to provide their impact report to the Governor’s Office early this week. The group is charged with determining the financial impact of the latest minimum wage hike. The group is finalizing its work before it’s presented to the governor.