American Samoa consists of five volcanic islands and two coral atolls in the South Pacific, located about 2,600 miles southwest of Hawaii (see fig. 1). The territory has a combined land area of 76 square miles, slightly larger than Washington, D.C. The 2010 U.S. Census found American Samoa’s population to be 55,519, a decrease of 3 percent from its 2000 population (see fig. 2). Individuals who are neither U.S. citizens nor U.S. nationals, most of them from the Independent State of Samoa, composed approximately 35 percent of the territory’s population in that year. The 2010 census also reported that American Samoa’s median household income remained well below, and its poverty rate well above, those of the United States. In 2009, American Samoa’s median household income was $23,892, 47 percent of the U.S. median household income; American Samoa’s poverty rate was 57.8 percent, in contrast to the U.S. rate of 15.1 percent. Approximately 98 percent of the population of American Samoa lives on the main island of Tutuila, and most economic activity (including tuna canning) and government operations take place in and around the harbor of the capital city, Pago Pago, on Tutuila. Most of Tutuila consists of rugged terrain, with little level land (see fig. 3). U.S. interest in the Samoan islands began in 1872 with efforts by the U.S. Navy to establish a naval station in Pago Pago harbor. A U.S.-British- German protectorate over all Samoan islands ended in 1899, when the islands that comprise American Samoa were placed under U.S. control. The U.S. Naval Station in the territory was established in 1900. From 1900 through 1904, the U.S. government negotiated control over American Samoa, and the U.S. Navy subsequently took responsibility for federal governance of the territory. In 1951, governance was transferred to the Secretary of the Interior. In 1960, American Samoa residents adopted their own constitution, but amendments to the constitution may be made only by an act of Congress. Persons born to non-U.S. citizen parents in American Samoa are U.S. nationals but may apply to become naturalized U.S. citizens. In addition, U.S. noncitizen nationals from American Samoa have the right to travel freely, live, and work throughout the United States. American Samoa exercises authority over its immigration system and customs through locally adopted laws. While American Samoans may serve in the U.S. military, they do not have the right to vote in U.S. national elections and do not have voting representation for legislation passed before the full U.S. Congress, including legislation setting the minimum wage in American Samoa. The U.S. government has supported American Samoa’s economy through trade and tax policies. U.S. trade policies provide tariff-free access to the U.S. market for processed tuna from American Samoa, while foreign suppliers generally are subject to tariffs for these goods. For example, foreign suppliers’ canned or pouched tuna packed in oil is subject to a 35- percent tariff, and their canned or pouched tuna not packed in oil is subject to a 12.5 percent tariff. However, U.S. trade agreements with certain countries may provide those countries tariff-free or reduced-tariff access to the United States. U.S. tax policies have reduced federal taxes on income earned by qualifying U.S. corporations investing in American Samoa. Under the Internal Revenue Code, qualifying American Samoa tuna canneries have received a tax credit for U.S. corporate income taxes. Canneries in American Samoa have also benefited from exemptions from local taxes. The United States provides assistance to the government of American Samoa. In fiscal year 2015, American Samoa’s single audit reported that U.S. federal grants provided $164 million of $255 million in total government revenue to American Samoa. Ranked by grant expenditures, the largest federal grantors were the Departments of Health and Human Services ($40.1 million), the Interior ($34.8 million), Agriculture ($32.7 million), Education ($23.7 million), and Homeland Security ($10.2 million). Systems for setting minimum wages vary across the United States and internationally in many respects. Appendix II provides information about systems for setting minimum wages around the world, drawn largely from the International Labor Organization (ILO). Key attributes of these systems include the following: Decision-making authority: the entity responsible for decisions on how to set minimum wages. For example, decisions may be made by the government itself or delegated to a board or committee created for this purpose. Objectives: the primary outcomes that a minimum wage is designed to achieve. Such outcomes may relate to the needs of workers, conditions facing employers or the overall economy, or both. Systems employ varying degrees of specificity in this regard; some list factors to be considered, while others define specific criteria. Adjustment mechanisms: procedures for making adjustments to a minimum wage. For example, a minimum wage may be indexed to an economic indicator (e.g., changes in the CPI) and adjusted at specified intervals to reflect changes in that indicator. Coverage: the population of workers to which a minimum wage applies. Some minimum wage systems exclude workers of a certain age, industry, or occupation from minimum wage coverage. Level: the rate of a minimum wage. This rate may be viewed in nominal terms; systems may set a single—usually hourly—minimum wage or may set multiple minimum wages that vary by industry, occupation, or region. The minimum wage rate may also be viewed in comparative terms: Minimum wages may be set at low levels relative to other indicators (e.g., average wages) and thus apply to a comparatively small share of the workforce. Alternatively, they may be set at relatively high levels and thus apply to a comparatively large share of the workforce. The federal minimum wage was first enacted as part of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA). The FLSA specified that for industries engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce, its policy was to correct and, as rapidly as practicable, to eliminate labor conditions detrimental to the maintenance of the minimum standard of living necessary for health, efficiency, and general well-being of workers without substantially curtailing employment or earning power. Since 1938, there have been nine amendments to the FLSA establishing new minimum wages and usually raising the rate through a series of steps over 2 to 4 years (see table 1; also see table 6 in app. III for a summary of selected federal laws related to minimum wages in American Samoa). The U.S. federal minimum wage applies generally to any employee engaged in commerce or the production of goods for commerce, with certain exemptions. For example, federal minimum wage and overtime requirements do not apply to individuals engaged in agriculture if their employer is an immediate family member. These exemptions are also extended to individuals processing seafood while at sea. As of July 2009, the federal minimum wage was set at $7.25 per hour. According to DOL, 3.3 percent of workers in the United States who were paid on an hourly basis in 2015 earned wages at or below the federal minimum wage. In general, individual U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and local governments may also set their own minimum wages. As of January 2016, all but five U.S. states, as well as many cities and counties, had adopted their own minimum wage laws. According to the DOL, as of January 2016, 29 states and the District of Columbia had established minimum wages that are higher than the federal minimum wage. In addition, according to data assembled by the University of California Center for Labor Research and Education, 40 U.S. cities and counties have adopted minimum wages that are higher than the federal minimum wage. Some states and localities have scheduled increases to their minimum wages in a series of steps over several years. Others adjust their minimum wage by indexing it to an economic indicator—in most of these cases to a CPI as calculated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). (See app. IV for a summary of state minimum wage laws.) For 5 decades beginning in 1956, federal policy called for the minimum wage rates for industries in American Samoa to reach the federal minimum wage as rapidly as was economically feasible without substantially curtailing employment. Special industry committees (SIC) were directed to recommend the highest minimum wages for industries in American Samoa that would not substantially curtail employment in the industry or give any industry in American Samoa a competitive advantage over any industry in the rest of the United States. In 2007, Congress passed the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007, which eliminated the SICs and created a schedule of increases to American Samoa minimum wages that has since been revised and applied over a number of years. Since 1957, American Samoa minimum wages have generally remained below the federal minimum wage. American Samoa minimum wages did not keep pace with changes in the cost of living in American Samoa in the decade before 2007 but have generally kept pace since then. From 1957 to 2006, SICs periodically recommended minimum wages for American Samoa. While the FLSA was enacted in 1938, according to testimony before congressional committees in 1956, wages in American Samoa were generally below the federal minimum wage in effect at that time for a variety of reasons. The act was amended in 1956 to provide for American Samoa minimum wages to be established through an SIC process similar to that used in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. (See text box.)