During the last month, 600 new jobs were created in Macau, taking the total employed population to 313,800, over the first quarter of 2010. In comparison with the previous period (December 2009 - February 2010), the major increase took place in the Retail Trade and Hospitality sectors. Meanwhile, the employment of the Construction and Wholesale Trade businesses registered a decrease.
These are some of the results of the Employment Survey held by the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) and released yesterday. As such, 71.1 percent of the Macau active population (whose total was 323,300) was working, up by 0.1 percent over the previous period. However, this percentage was down by 1.3 percent from the same period last year.
This rise in the labour force participation rate is explained by a higher number of women going to work, up by 0.3 percent, to 65.6 percent. On the contrary, the male participation rate went down 0.2 percent, to 77.1 percent.
Despite this increase, the unemployment rate held stable at 2.9 percent, partly because about 300 residents lost their jobs in the period between December 2009 and last February. In March there were 9,500 unemployed in Macau, with only 5.9 percent being entrants looking for their first job. In comparison with the first quarter of 2009, there was a positive evolution, with the unemployment rate dropping by 0.9 percent.
Finally, the underemployment rate stood still at 1.8 percent, a percentage that remains unchanged since January 2009.

‘A full employment society’

The jobless rate returned to the levels registered in 2008, says Albano Martins, which “might mean a recovery” for the Macau economy. The current unemployment is “of a structural nature”, added the economist, and the numbers show that Macau is currently “a full employment society”.
However, the economist warned that such prospect will have negative impacts. “The salary level will certainly shoot through the roof and create serious problems for the small and medium enterprises,” he explained. “The competition for the work force will force a great degree of instability, which is not good for business in general, but especially for certain sectors,” lamented Martins.
As such, “the Government has very few reasons to be worried about the non-resident workers,” claimed Martins. However, the PSP has already received five requests from groups intending to go out on the streets during the May 1 Labour day. That includes the organizers of a demonstration that was staged two weeks ago at the Labour Affairs Bureau (DSAL), calling for the reduction of imported workers. The group is expecting at least 1,000 people to show up.
“There is no reason for local residents to be worried about their jobs,” said Albano Martins. The only problems, he added, are due to “the lack of qualified workers”, which makes the imported labour a necessity. The alternative would be “to strangle the Macau economy”, warned the economist.
The demonstrations “have no valid reasons and are due to pure xenophobia”, lamented Martins. The new law on imported labour became official on Monday and the economist fears for its effects. “It will deeply harm the non-resident workers, who have contributed so much to the development of Macau,” he said.