The increase in the number of visitors has boosted the economic recovery and slightly decreased the unemployment rate, due to the demand for human resources in various sectors.
In the second quarter of this year, the overall unemployment rate (2.8 percent) and the unemployment rate for residents (3.5 percent) fell by 0.3 and 0.4 percentage points respectively. The number of employed people increased by 2,100 compared to the previous quarter, while the number of employed residents increased by 1,400. According to the employment data, the gambling and gambling promotion sector (68,500) and the hotel and restaurant sector (45,000) increased by 2,100 and 1,900 employees respectively, while construction (26,800) decreased by 1,800 people.
The unemployment rate and employment situation have improved following the economic recovery. Previously, some associations of non-resident workers’ agencies pointed out that the shortage of human resources in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) reflects that there are still structural problems in the labor market. This means that there is a mismatch between employers’ requirements in terms of professional skills and workers’ abilities. At the same time, some workers expect to find a job that satisfies them more, leading to certain positions remaining vacant. This issue is pronounced among young people, middle-aged people and the elderly, due to differences in occupational skills. Especially for young people, finding a job successfully is still relatively challenging.
In the first seven months of this year, the Directorate for Labour Affairs (DSAL) organized 91 employment sessions for specific sectors and 30 recruitment sessions for leisure companies, helping 7,527 people to find work. This figure exceeds the 6,288 people employed by DSAL last year. It also equates to around 2.6 percent of the local workforce between March and May this year. According to DSAL, with the recovery of the tourism sector, the department will continue to intensify its job search efforts and work closely with companies and organizations to reduce the pressure on local human resources.
In reality, recruitment by large companies has been concentrated on entry-level positions, such as catering, security and hotels. In other words, if they wanted to hire, they would have already done so. For some types of jobs, Macao residents may not be willing to work, or have certain requirements, which results in a mismatch between supply and demand. In addition, the fact that both employers and candidates have certain requirements – also contributes to difficulties in job matching.
Federation of Macau Workers’ Associations*
