Civil staff wages should rise by 10 pct: economist

2012-02-06
From: Macau Daily Times

Instead of the proposed 4.9 percent, the government should increase public workers wages by 10 percent, a local economist has said, adding that an increase below that figure wont give dignity to public officials.
The director of the Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau, Joseacute Chu, has suggested an increase of 4.9 percent. A decision will be made within the first half of this year.
In an interview with Portuguese channel of Radio Macau, economist Albano Martins said: Any proposal is very political and I might even be accused of wanting to protect public workers, but I think it is important that they realise [the government] that 4.9 percent only brings back the salary level from the beginning of 2000.
Interestingly, they [the government] did a calculation very similar to mine but they forgot that detail, he stressed.
The government has to seriously rethink whether it wants to give more purchasing power to workers, or just restore it, because if they want to give more power purchase they must pay substantially more, Martins said.
In addition, the economist is expecting the wealth created in Macau known as Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to grow by 20 percent this year, slower than in 2011.
Last year, the gaming industry grew more than 40 percent in many months and now it is growing by 20 percent, which means that GDP growth will also slow down, since gaming is almost the only variable that pulls GDP upward, he explained.
The Economist Intelligence Unit predicted at the beginning of January that Macaus GDP will increase by 15 percent this year.

Copyright Macau Daily Times