Northern Mariana Islands: Encyclopedia II - Northern Mariana Islands - Economy

Northern Mariana Islands - Economy

See main article Economy of the Northern Mariana Islands

The economy of the Northern Mariana Islands depends primarily on tourism, especially, from Japan, and the rapidly growing garment manufacturing sector. The Commonwealth also benefits from substantial subsidies and development assistance from the federal government of the United States.

The Northern Mariana Islands had successfully exploited its position of being in a free trade area with the United States, while at the same time not being subject to the same labor laws as it: The minimum wage in the Commonwealth is lower than in the US and some other worker protections are weaker leading to lower production costs: This allows garments to be labelled "Made in USA" while being produced under sweatshop conditions. A different immigration régime meant that a large number of Chinese migrant workers were employed in the Islands' garment trade. However, the lifting of World Trade Organisation restrictions on Chinese imports to the United States has put the Commonwealth-based trade under severe pressure, leading to a number of factory closures.

Agricultural production, primarily of cattle, coconuts, breadfruit, tomatoes and melons exists, but is of relatively minor economic import.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Economy", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki