Labour market tightens as part-timers vanish- Hello Jobs in Macau Business Daily

2013-11-29

From：Macau Business Daily

Higher wages are tempting more part-time workers into full-time jobs, observers say

The labour market has grown tighter in the past three months, with few people still unable to find a full-time job that matches their qualifications.
The number of underemployed – those performing jobs for which they are overqualified or working part time but keen to go full-time – fell to 1,495 people at the end of last month, official data released yesterday shows.
The Statistics and Census Service said the underemployment rate fell by 0.2 percentage points to 0.4 percent.
That is the lowest rate since the statistics bureau began collecting employment data in 1992.
The underemployment peak was set in May 2001 at 3.8 percent.
Part-time workers are moving into full-time jobs because the salaries on offer have become too attractive to pass up, Ricardo Siu Chi Sen said.
The University of Macau associate professor of business and economics says firms are being forced to pay more to attract staff.
The underemployment rate is one more sign of how tight Macau’s labour market has become, economist Albano Martins said.
“It means there are more workers that are being utilised to the maximum because there are just no more workers to be found,” he said.
As a result, the workload for staff is increasing, he said.
Almost 70 percent of employees worked more than 45 hours a week in the third quarter, up by 2.6 percentage points from the previous quarter, official data show.
Mr Siu says workers outside the casinos are not necessarily enduring more hours at the office.
“In the casino industry we hear about frontline staff facing heavier workloads and more pressure. But working hours have remained the same in the banking and retail sectors, for instance,” he said.
The unemployment rate for the August-October period was stable at 1.9 percent.
Mr Siu says the record-low underemployment rate is further evidence that Macau needs more migrants, no matter the opposition from labour groups.
In the past two months these groups have rallied against the possibility of allowing migrants to work as casino dealers or drivers.

Part-time attraction

The underemployment rate is not a sign that part-time work is becoming a last-resort option, said Loh Seow Yuen, managing partner at employment agency MSS Recruitment Ltd and hello-jobs.com.
Ms Loh said part-time work was “very attractive” with wages that “can be 60 percent higher” than in Hong Kong.
There were always acute shortages of part-time workers and workers “always have their pick of the cherries”, she said.
Regulating part-time work would not help increase the pool of available workers because they receive mandatory benefits, including employers’ contributions to the Social Security Fund.
A government-sponsored proposal to regulate part-time work remains stuck at the Standing Committee for the Coordination of Social Affairs.
There are deep rifts between labour representatives and employer groups.
The government’s proposal would identify part-time work as 24 hours a week or less than 96 hours every four weeks.
Labour representatives say the definition is unfair and that part-timers do not enjoy the same rights as full-time employees – even on a pro-rata basis – especially when it comes to holidays.
Employees have little interest in pushing forward with a law on part-time work, said Mr Siu.
“It may take time” to implement it, he said.

Copyright@Macau Business Daily