MACAU BUSINESS
that might even close down,” he said at a recent meeting of the Legislative Assembly. He suggested the authorities should better understand the demands and criteria of the unemployed residents, namely their past experiences and interests, and also encourage residents to equip themselves with more skillsets for a new career path. “Non-local residents should only fill up the vacancies that are beyond the interests and capabilities of residents,” he added. “This will facilitate the healthy development [of the equilibrium] between resident and non-resident workers.”
Wage subsidy Not local vs. non-local “The
authorities should
review the imported labour
quota in the segments that local
residents are interested in and capable of…,”
says lawmaker Leong Sun Iok
“As the number of the unemployed might still rise, the job vacancies sourced by the authorities are not enough,” says the lawmaker from the local labour group. “The authorities should review the imported labour quota in the segments that local residents are interested in and capable of – including gaming, banking and finance, retail, restaurants, facility maintenance and others – to make room for residents…and nurture them to gradually take over the vacancies.” The number of non-resident workers in the city has already
taken a plunge since the start of this unprecedented health crisis. The latest DSAL data show the number of non-resident employees skydived by 14.7 per cent, or about 28,800 fewer, from end-2019 to 167,738 as of March 2022, including a 14 per cent decrease in the number of unskilled non-resident workers to 137,310 and a 19.6 per cent drop in the tally of skilled employees to 5,198. While the tally of non-resident employees has taken a fall in the sectors of gaming, retail, hotel and dining over the same time period, the number has actually gone up in the segments of construction (up by 1 per cent to 29,696), education (up by 5.1 per cent to 3,030) and healthcare (up by 11.5 per cent to 3,004). Aside from Mr Leong, other lawmakers have also urged the
government to review the quota of non-resident labour in companies in light of the grimy prospect. Legislator-cum- businessman Jose Chui Sai Peng has stressed the key is to allow residents to fill in job positions that they “are interested in and capable of”. “If [the government] forced the exit of non-resident labour while [companies] cannot find residents in the market that fit the job, this will only lower the productivity of businesses
Prof. Lei of UM also concurs that the issue of the non- local labour force should be considered and regarded “rationally”. “There are not many things the government can do in the short-run to relieve the unemployment situation apart from wage subsidies for employers,” he adds. The administration unveiled a new scheme of wage subsidy in
late May, in which employers are entitled to a total of MOP19,968 per new local staff for six months if they hire a resident between June and August that have been unemployed for at least 60 days. The scheme does not put a cap on the maximum amount of staff and subsidy employers can have, encouraging businesses to hire as many unemployed residents as possible, the government said. Employers applying for this scheme should maintain the existing size of their local workers, should keep the newly-recruited residents for at least 12 months and should not provide no-paid leave to their workers for 12 months. With a budget of nearly MOP300 million, it is expected the scheme could create jobs for as many as 15,000 unemployed residents. Mr Leong, of the city’s largest labour group, expects this new
subsidy could complement other measures the authorities have rolled out in recent months to create better conditions for employers and employees, namely, the third round of electronic consumption benefits scheme that starts in June and the subsidy scheme of water and electricity bills for merchants that starts in July. “All these programmes together could relieve the operational pressure of employers to a certain extent and create conditions for them to hire new staff,” the lawmaker says. “We can only urge employers to try their best to have as many locals as possible.”
Give us confidence’
Vong Kok Seng, vice president of the Macau Chamber of Commerce, also acknowledges this new initiative. “This could encourage employers to employ more unemployed residents while they will not sack their existing staff,” he says. “It could help relieve the [financial] cost of employers to a certain extent in recruitment.” But some cast doubts on whether this can enhance the willingness of businesses in new recruitment given the gloomy economy prospect and the MOP20,000-subsidy only translating to some MOP3,000 a month per staff. “The [new] support measure from the government can address the urgent needs of SMEs but many businesses have reflected that they feel powerless about the future due to the fluctuations of the pandemic, the visa policy of [Mainland China] and the proposed changes to local gaming regulations,” Mr Vong adds. “We hope the government can pave the way for the restart of the Macau economy as soon as possible so that both employers and employees can have more confidence about the future,” he says.
22 AUGUST 2022
4.5%
UNEMPLOYMENT RATE OF RESIDENTS AS OF MARCH 2022
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