Economic Upturn Filters Through

The city’s unemployment rate hovered at 2 per cent in the first quarter of the year, while median monthly earnings of local residents saw a quarter-to-quarter increase of MOP1,000 in the same period, amounting to MOP19,000. (US$2,375)
According to the latest official data released yesterday by the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) median monthly employment earnings of the city’s employed – including non-resident workers – remained unchanged at MOP15,000 in the first quarter as compared to the last quarter of 2016.
In particular, those engaging in gaming & junket activities saw their median earnings higher than the average, hitting MOP20,000 per month.
During the same period, the total labour force of the MSAR reached 387,500, a slight increase of 0.1 per cent from the period spanning December 2016 and February 2017. Of the total, the employed accounted for some 379,500, of which 278,100 were local residents, up by 400 and 1,000 period-to-period.
Meanwhile, the number of unemployed was 7,900, of whom those searching for their first job accounted for 9.7 per cent, an increase of 1.3 percentage points period-to-period.
In the three months, the unemployment rate of local residents was 2.8 per cent, the underemployment rate was 0.5 per cent, and the labour force participation rate stood at 71 per cent.
By industry, the amount of labour force engaged in gaming & junket activities decreased by 1.5 per cent period-to-period to some 80,100 as at the end of March. In addition, those working in the filed of restaurants & similar activities fell by 7.5 per cent period-to-period to 22,900.
Nevertheless, hotels & similar activities saw employment increase by 1.5 per cent period-to-period to 30,900 whilst wholesale & retail trade and construction recorded increases in their labour force, up 0.2 per cent and 0.6 per cent period-to-period, amounting to 47,400 and 35,200, respectively.
According to DSEC, 24.2 per cent of the city’s total employment was engaged in recreational, cultural, gaming & other services, followed by those serving hotels, restaurants & similar activities, amounting to 14.2 per cent of the total.
Whilst some 12.5 per cent and 9.3 per cent of the employed were working in the wholesale & retail trade and construction, respectively, other major industries for the local labour force were real estate, public administration & social security, and domestic work, with employment accounting for some 7 per cent to 8 per cent of the total.