Contacts between the Samoan islands and the United States developed late in the 19 th century, but they were infrequent. Fish processing is Samoa's single primary private-sector industry. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the insular minimum wage has been fixed by the Secretary of Labor through a Special Industry Committee (SIC). In early 2007, the rate for the tuna canneries was $3.26 per hour; the federal rate, $5.15 per hour. At the same time, the SIC system was abolished and the insular rate was raised, though in more extended steps, until it might coincide with the federal rate. ), little thought appears to have been given to how that act might be applied to jurisdictions that were, in significant ways, economically different from the U.S. mainland. Under Section 8 of the original enactment, the Department of Labor (DOL) was required, "from time to time," to convene an industry committee for each industry covered under the act and, through the committee, to "recommend" a rate (or rates) of wages that might be higher than those established by the act. Application to American Samoa

Following World War II, an unrelated circumstance brought American Samoa to governmental attention. Among factors to be considered were the following:
[c]ompetitive conditions as affected by transportation, living and production costs
the wages established for work of like or comparable character by collective labor agreements negotiated between employers and employees by representatives of their own choosing
the wages paid for work of a like or comparable character by employers who voluntarily maintain minimum wage standards in the industry
employment and labor conditions and trends ... on the mainland ... including such items as present and past employment, present wage rates and fringe benefits, changes in average hourly earnings or wage structure, provisions of collective bargaining agreements, hours of work, labor turnover, absenteeism, productivity, learning periods, rejection rates, and similar factors
comparative production costs ... on the mainland, and in foreign countries, together with the factors responsible for differences
financial conditions and trends ... as reflected in profit and loss statements and balance sheets
Hardship testimony must be documented. 1 (1957)

James Mitchell, Secretary of Labor, appointed the first industry committee for Samoa on March 20, 1957, admonishing them "to reach as rapidly as is economically feasible the objective of the minimum wage of $1.00 an hour" (the standard federal minimum). Special Industry Committee No. Improving the Quality of Evidence

When establishing an SIC for American Samoa in 1956, it was assumed that the committee would operate under the same rules as committees in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. 17 and suggested that H.R. 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 Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands—to take place in steps through the next several years. The bill would allow the several minimum wage increases to go into effect if, in the case of American Samoa, "the Secretary of Labor determines, based on the study required under section 8104 [the DOL study] and in consultation with the Secretary of the Interior and the government of American Samoa, that an increase under this subparagraph will not have an adverse impact on the economy of American Samoa...." New studies would be conducted at each two-year interval. However, during the late 1980s and into the 1990s, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands graduated to a full minimum wage leaving only American Samoa under the SIC umbrella. In the early 1950s, the Department of the Interior sought a tenant for a vacant fish processing plant at Pago Pago. 2206 , P.L. 110-28 ). Under the act, the SIC system was abolished and a new insular minimum wage was mandated—to be raised each year in fifty-cent increments until the new federal minimum rate, however specified, might be reached.
In 1938, when the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) was adopted, Congress appears to have given little consideration as to how its provisions might affect the various possessions and territories of the United States. The first off-shore jurisdiction to request exception from the FLSA was Puerto Rico, which, in 1940, along with the Virgin Islands, was given an exception under the act. Special industry committees were appointed to visit the Caribbean islands and to recommend minimum wage rates consistent with the insular economies.
In the wake of World War II, new attention was focused upon the Pacific islands. American Samoa, basically, had no industry other than harvesting of copra, the dried meat of the coconut, and an economy very different from the mainland. In the early 1950s, the Department of the Interior contracted with the Van Camp Sea Food Company to move onto the island and develop a fish processing plant. However, the FLSA minimum wage was regarded as too high to be competitive and, in 1956, Van Camp appealed to Congress to extend the Puerto Rican special industry committee (SIC) model to American Samoa. Thereafter, the Secretary of Labor would review economic conditions and establish minimum rates.
The SICs were admonished to reach "as rapidly as is economically feasible without substantially curtailing employment" the American standard under the FLSA. While the rates established by the committees were lower than those prevailing on the mainland, the device was regarded as temporary. During the 1980s and 1990s, special treatment of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands was phased out, and those islands came fully under the FLSA. Of the three jurisdictions, only American Samoa remained under the SIC structure.
Fish processing has become Samoa's primary private-sector industry. In early 2007, the minimum wage for the industry was $3.26 per hour: the federal minimum wage was $5.15 per hour. However, in late May 2007, Congress adopted H.R. 2206 (P.L. 110-28) which, through a series of step increases over several years, would raise the federal minimum wage to $7.25 per hour. At the same time, the SIC for American Samoa was abolished and the insular minimum wage was raised (through a more prolonged series of step increases) until the federal minimum level, whatever that may ultimately become, might be reached.
At least since the 1950s, the companies involved in fish processing have suggested that, were the minimum wage to be raised to the national rate, they might consider leaving the island and operating out of a country where wage rates were more favorable. Now, with the new wage rate for American Samoa in effect, what will be the reaction of the tuna canning companies? Will they improve technology to raise labor productivity, change the type of production done in Samoa, absorb the new rates—or migrate? And, if they were to migrate, what alternative employment might be available for the people of American Samoa?
This report will be updated as warranted.