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Macau Jobs

Macau real estate and casino tycoon Stanley Ho Hung-sun jokingly said last week: "We've even given a job to an elderly woman who falls asleep as she deals cards. How can this be?" His remarks underscore the fact that the city is facing a shortage of labor as its economy booms. Macau tourism development is creating many new jobs in Macau.

Mr Ho's Sociedade de Jogos de Macau (SJM) operates 13 casinos with almost 10,000 employees. Three small casinos are due to open within the next two years, before he unveils his next huge casino in Macau, the Grand Lisboa, which is expected to create another 3,000 jobs in Macau.

The staff shortage is plaguing many sectors in addition to the casinos. When Lord Stow's Bakery, which sells Portuguese egg tarts on Coloane Island, decided to open a nearby café, they found that construction workers were too busy. Consequently, the opening had to be delayed for months.

With a declining unemployment rate of 4.9 per cent in August 2004, Macau has 11,000 people out of work among a workforce of 229,000. Government officials frequently express a commitment to create as many jobs in Macau for local residents as possible - one that the Sands Macau casino put into practice by employing 4,500 locals for its opening in May 2004. However, many of the 11,000 unemployed are factory workers or other unskilled laborers without experience in the construction or Macau tourism sectors where staff recruits are most needed.

Since 2001, the number of non-residents working in Macau has remained at about 25,000, rising slowly to 27,000 recently. The upcoming hotels and casinos are expected to require a total of at least 18,000 additional employees as they open between 2006 and 2009. This estimate does not include construction workers required to complete the projects.

Macau’s chief executive has appointed a human resources development committee, on which various interest groups are represented, to seek solutions. There are numerous requests on the table, for example, for permitting changes that would make it easier for employers to hire workers from Hong Kong. Even if the government grants more work permits for imported labor, the question of how the Labor Department will handle the mounting paperwork is another issue. Processing a work permit takes three to six months. Process changes will, no doubt, be plentiful as Macau casinos continue to grow.

Training is another area where changes are being made. The University of Macao is now offering a Gaming Studies degree, and the Macao Tourism and Casino Center is offering Casino Jobs Training, as well. In addition to casino workers, and hospitality workers in general, there is a burgeoning need for construction workers, interpreters, telecom workers, and bankers. All this is expected to continue as Macau’s economy booms.

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