Median salary reaches MOP 10,000

2011-11 -23
From: Macau Daily Times

Gaming workers median wage reached MOP 13,500 in the third quarter of 2011, while the overall salary topped MOP 10,000 for first time in Macaus history

Macaus median wage reached MOP 10,000 in the last quarter, for the first time in the territorys history, official data shows.
According to the employment survey for the third quarter of 2011, released by the Statistics and Census Service yesterday, the median monthly earnings of local workers rose by MOP 400 to a new record high.
The salaries of local residents climbed even more, by MOP 1,000, to reach MOP 11,000.
But the highest wages can be found in the recreational, cultural and gaming services, which is also the biggest employer in the territory, with 24.7 percent of the working population. Earnings are particularly high in casinos, up to MOP 13,500.
Median salaries have more than doubled in the last seven years, while prices rose by 31.9 percent in the same period.
But a big part of the population remains below the median income, with 46.3 percent of all workers earning less than MOP 10,000 per month. There are actually 24,700 workers earning less than MOP 3,500, about 7.4 percent of the population.
On the other extreme, the number of people making more than MOP 40,000 has more than doubled in the last quarter, from around 7,000 to over 14,100.
Earlier this week, during his 2012 Policy Address at the Legislative Assembly, the Chief Executive urged employers to raise wages so they may be able to catch up with Macaus economic development.
The SAR Government attaches great importance to enhancing a medium level income of the population. I call on the businesspeople to pay attention to this issue, Fernando Chui Sai On said.
We intend to give more attention to workers and protect at least those that are in entry level positions. We hope their income can reach the level of [Macaus] economic growth, because it is not balanced nowadays, he pointed out.

Jobs for experts

The survey also shows that one out of every five people unemployed in Macau in the last quarter had a university degree. Still, this figure is the lowest in almost four years.
The proportion of unemployed with higher education qualifications has been falling non-stop since the beginning of the year, when it reached 23.5 percent, and has slid to 20.4 percent at the end of September.
This is also the lowest figure since the last quarter of 2007, when it was down at 20.2 percent.
The biggest slice of the unemployed (32.6 percent) had junior secondary education, followed by primary education and senior secondary education, both with 23.6 percent.
Most job seekers had previously worked in the recreational, cultural and gaming sector (20.7 percent), followed by the construction industry (17.8 percent) and the hotel and restaurant business (15.7 percent).
According to statistics its not difficult for most people to find another job. In fact, about two-thirds of the unemployed were searching for less than four months, while only 8.7 percent were looking for more than a year.
But the going might be harder for unskilled workers, which accounted for one-quarter of all unemployed.
On the other hand, only 17 percent of the working population are unqualified. In addition, people with primary education or lower represent the smallest slice of the employed, with just 20.1 percent.

Copyright Macau Daily Times