	Introduction

When Congress crafted the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) during 1937 and 1938, there appears to have been little concern about how its provisions might affect the territories and possessions of the United States. Gradually, through various procedures and over different time periods, the federal minimum wage has come to be applied in most of these jurisdictions. In Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, implementation was gradual, utilizing special industry committees (SICs) . By the late 1980s or early 1990s, the SICs for Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands had been phased out. For Samoa, the SICs seem to have had little effect in raising wage rates, though the procedure remained in place, intermittently, until the summer of 2007 when it was abolished. The CNMI was acquired by the United States in the wake of World War II. In doing so, they retained responsibility for the insular minimum wage—and exercised control over aspects of insular immigration policy. Thus, among U.S. territories and possessions, the minimum wage had remained unresolved in American Samoa and the CNMI. Though the focus of congressional debate appears to have been upon Puerto Rico, the 1940 FLSA amendment applied to the Virgin Islands as well. Following from the hearings, the 85 th Congress adopted amendments to the FLSA under which Guam, American Samoa and certain other jurisdictions were specifically written into the act. The special industry committee arrangement was repealed with the 2007 FLSA amendments ( H.R. 17, following routine hearings and investigation into the condition of the various segments of the insular economy, concluded that the minimum wage for Samoa could be raised to the mainland level without risk that it would "substantially curtail employment in the industries" of the island. American Samoa and the 110th Congress

In 2007, a provision was inserted into the U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act ( H.R. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands

The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), associated with the United States since the mid-1970s, had not been covered by the minimum wage provisions of the FLSA: rather, it was governed by its own insular minimum—lower than the FLSA standard. Rather, they seem to have been regarded as in temporary association with the United States. New Industrial Growth and Its Aftermath

By the 1980s, a garment industry had developed in the CNMI, based largely, it appears, upon three factors: (1) an initial minimum wage then about $2.15 per hour, substantially below that required by the FLSA, though it may not have extended to many workers; (2) importation of alien non-immigrant contract workers, many from China, who came to be employed in the insular garment factories; and (3) the capacity to move CNMI production in commerce, for tariff purposes, as Made in America. The bill (with some 222 cosponsors) had two provisions: (1) to raise the federal minimum wage, in steps, to $7.25 per hour, and (2) to render the federal minimum wage applicable to the CNMI through a series of increases to take place over several years. H.R. A second bill, H.R.
The minimum wage under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is generally applicable to any state, territory, or possession of the United States such as Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). Implementation has been gradual, though the ultimate objective has been, consistently, to raise wages to the highest level that "is economically feasible without substantially curtailing employment."
In 1937 and 1938, when Congress crafted the FLSA, there appears to have been little concern about its impact upon the U.S. territories and possessions. In 1940, the act was amended to permit Special Industry Committees (SICs) to visit Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands to assess their economies and to make recommendations for a sub-minimum wage in certain industries. In 1956, the same procedure was instituted for American Samoa. Guam had always been under the act (though it may not have been implemented). The CNMI, in setting forth the terms of its association with the United States, had retained control over its own insular minimum wage.
By the 1980s and early 1990s, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands had emerged from the SICs procedures and come fully under the FLSA. Two territories remained to be accounted for: American Samoa and, in a different context, the CNMI.
It was generally assumed that the mainland minimum wage applied to American Samoa though it had not been implemented. During the early 1950s, the Department of the Interior moved to attract a new industry to the island group: namely, tuna canning. The first company, Van Camp Sea Foods, asked Congress to grant an exception from the FLSA and, in 1956, the Puerto Rican model was adopted. The exception remained in place until 2007 when, under the FLSA amendments of that year, the SIC system was abolished and the federal minimum wage, in steps, would be applied.
The CNMI was acquired by the United States in the aftermath of World War II. When, in the mid-1970s, it became a Commonwealth in association with the United States, the CNMI retained control over its minimum wage and certain aspects of immigration and trade policy. A decade later, in the 1980s, congressional hearings uncovered what were alleged to have been "sweatshop" practices involving the garment and tourism industries. With the 2007 FLSA amendments, the federal minimum wage will be applied, in steps, to the CNMI.
In the 110th Congress, several bills (H.R. 2, H.R. 976, H.R. 1591, H.R. 2206, and H.R. 5154) dealt with the minimum wage for Samoa and/or for the CNMI.
This report will be updated as warranted.