Under the terms of the Covenant certain federal laws would be inapplicable in the CNMI. including minimum wage to take into consideration the relative economic situation of the islands and their relation to other east Asian countries. Although the population of the CNMI was only 15.000 people in 1976 when the Covenant went into effect. the population now exceeds 60.000 and US citizens are a minority. The resident population is probably about 24.000 with about 28.000 alien workers and estimates of at least 10.000 illegal aliens. Permits for nonresident workers were reported at 22.500 for 1994. the largest category being for manufacturing. Tourism has climbed from about 230.000 visitors in 1987 to almost 600.000 in 1994.
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illegal aliens