The Macau government says it would “not be appropriate to set strict quotas or restrictions” on the number of non-resident workers that can be hired by the city’s casino concessionaires.
To support Macau’s tourism sector and “meet the goals regarding socio-economic development”, the city’s Labour Affairs Bureau said it needed to adopt a “more flexible and pragmatic” approach in terms of the number of employees in the gaming industry.
The comments were made in a written reply to a member of the city’s Legislative Assembly, Song Pek Kei, who had suggested setting a limit on the proportion of “low-level” positions for non-resident workers at the six casino operators.
In its reply, the bureau said it would continue to carry out in a diligent way the work of assessing and approving applications for hiring workers outside of Macau, as well as “reviewing and improving” its own procedures.
It also pledged to launch a number of employment promotional initiatives in accordance with the development of the city’s casino industry, coordinating the balance between supply and demand in the labour market, “to ensure priority and continuity of employment for residents”.
Non-resident workers cannot be casino dealers under policy arrangements maintained by successive Macau administrations. But many non-residents employed in the casino resort sector work in functions such as security, hotel housekeeping, restaurant services, and cleaning duties.
Four out of the six gaming operators in Macau have already announced a pay raise for staff in 2024. The majority of them have increased their salaries by 2.5 percent, a figure “lower than expected” for industry employees, notes an association head.
Speaking to AGB, Cloee Chao Sao Fong, head of the local gaming labor activist group New Macau Gaming Staff Rights Association, noted that the real income for industry employees, especially croupiers, has decreased compared to 2019 levels.
Macau’s Secretary for Economy and Finance, Lei Wai Nong (pictured, centre), has urged the city’s gaming operators to increase staff salaries in 2024, if the companies have the “conditions” to do so. But the official said the government could not demand the six casino concessionaires to make such salary adjustment.
His comments were made in response to questions during a plenary Legislative Assembly session on Wednesday. It was held to discuss Macau’s 2024 Policy Address.
https://www.ggrasia.com/macau-govt-official-urges-casino-ops-to-raise-salaries/
Macau’s Secretary for Economy and Finance, Lei Wai Nong, said Tuesday that the minimum proportion of local staff employed by each of the SAR’s concessionaires is 85%.
His comments were made during a plenary session of the Legislative Assembly, where a number of members asked the government about the employment rights of local residents and the ratio requirements of local resident staff versus foreign employees under the 10-year concessions signed in December 2022.
In response, Lei confirmed that concessionaires have long promoted the employment of local residents and provided them with employment training and job opportunities.
https://www.asgam.com/index.php/2024/01/10/macau-government-says-concessionaires-expected-to-have-minimum-ratio-of-85-local-employees/
Macao’s economy is recovering well and gross gaming revenue has rocketed past government expectations. According to a report in Jornal Tribuna de Macau, lawmakers Ella Lei and Nick Lei believe gaming workers are consequently due for a pay raise.
Elle Lei pointed out that casino employees had cooperated with layoffs, vacation advances, and salary freezes during the pandemic years. Nick Lei noted that they had “contributed a lot to [Macao’s] economic recovery.”
Both said that increasing tourist volumes put pressure on casino staff, whose numbers have not been comparatively replenished.
Macau’s gaming industry welcomed 2,500 new workers in the three months leading up to September 30, according to data released on Friday by the city’s Statistics and Census Service. This marked the second consecutive quarter of growth.
The data revealed that the number of individuals employed in the gaming and junket sector reached 71,000 during the July to September period. This represented a 3.6 percent increase compared to the 68,500 workers in the second quarter.
Gaming sector wages are up but employee numbers are down
Nearly 40 members of staff working for Kam Pek Paradise have recently been dismissed after being made to change duties at the casino, lawmaker Jose Maria Pereira Coutinho has said.
Citing complaints from the sacked staff aged between 30 and 55, the lawmaker said that he had sought government intervention multiple times over the past few months, but to no avail.
According to him, almost 40 croupiers approached him in February after being requested by their supervisors to transition to other roles in early January. Some of them who declined the offer had their break time reduced as a result, the lawmaker claimed.
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O sector das lotarias e outros jogos de aposta empregava 52.174 trabalhadores a tempo inteiro no final de Dezembro, número que reflecte uma quebra anual de 4,9%. No espaço de um ano, os casinos “perderam” quase 700 “croupiers”
No final do quarto trimestre de 2022, o sector das lotarias e outros jogos de aposta contava com 52.174 trabalhadores a tempo completo, o que corresponde a um decréscimo anual de 2.665 ou 4,9%, indicam dados publicados ontem pela Direcção dos Serviços de Estatística e Censos (DSEC). Os indivíduos que laboravam por turnos equivaliam a 94,7% do total de trabalhadores a tempo inteiro.
Os dados do inquérito às necessidades de mão-de-obra e remunerações no sector, que excluem os promotores e colaboradores de jogos, indicam ainda que a remuneração média (não inclui participações nos lucros e prémios) dos trabalhadores a tempo inteiro atingiu 23.680 patacas em Dezembro, assinalando um acréscimo de 1,8% em relação a Junho de 2022 e uma descida de 0,1% na variação anual.
No período em análise, os casinos empregavam 23.721 “croupiers”, menos 685 ou 2,8% do que no final de Dezembro de 2021. A remuneração média dos “croupiers” também evoluiu no mesmo sentido, ao recuar 1,1% para 19.800 patacas. No ano anterior, tinha aumentado 1,1%.
De acordo com as estatísticas oficiais, no final do ano passado, o sector do jogo integrava ainda 3.052 directores e quadros dirigentes de empresas (-4,2%), 2.164 técnicos e profissionais de nível intermédio (-3,4%), 41.045 empregados administrativos (-2,7%) – categoria que abarca os “croupiers” – e 3.967 funcionários da área dos serviços e vendedores (-19,0%).
Por outro lado, no final do quarto trimestre de 2022, havia apenas 13 postos vagos no sector das lotarias e outros jogos de aposta, o que representa uma diminuição homóloga de 45. No que diz respeito aos requisitos de recrutamento, 92,3% das vagas requeriam experiência profissional, 30,8% exigiam habilitações académicas do ensino superior, 76,9% o domínio do mandarim e 76,9% do inglês.
Entre Outubro e Dezembro, foram recrutados 99 trabalhadores e 803 deixaram o emprego. Desse modo, a taxa de recrutamento (0,2%) foi idêntica à do quarto trimestre de 2021, enquanto a de rotatividade de trabalhadores (1,5%) cresceu 0,6 pontos percentuais e a taxa de vagas caiu para um nível próximo de zero. “Estes indicadores reflectem que a procura de mão-de-obra no sector das lotarias e outros jogos de aposta continuou relativamente baixa”, resumiu a DSEC.
Os mesmos dados revelam também que 283.677 participantes frequentaram cursos de formação profissional fornecidos pelas empresas do jogo ou realizados em conjunto com outras instituições, traduzindo uma quebra anual de 8,4%. A maioria participou em cursos de “serviços” (48,6%), seguindo-se a área do “comércio e gestão” (26,6%). A maior parte dos cursos de formação profissional foi organizada pelas empresas do jogo, com o respectivo número de formandos a representar 96,3% do total.
https://jtm.com.mo/local/menos-685-croupiers-num-ano/
