Macau unemployment rate rises amid junket sector crisis
The unemployment rate in Macau continues to rise due to the crisis in the junket industry.
Macau.- The Statistics and Census Bureau (DSEC) has revealed that Macau’s unemployment rate rose from November 2021 to January 2022. Both the overall unemployment rate (3.2 per cent) and the resident unemployment rate (4.2 per cent) increased by 0.1 percentage points when compared to October 2021 to December 2021.
The number of unemployed people grew to 12,400 with most of those unemployed having previously worked in gambling, junkets and construction.
In December, several casino operators, including MGM China, Las Vegas Sands and Melco Resorts ended agreements with their primary VIP gaming promoters. The sector has been in crisis after the arrests of Alvin Chau and Levo Chan Weng Lin, the heads of Suncity Group Holdings and Tak Chun Group, two of the city’s largest junket groups.
The number of junket operators has been falling each year from 235 in 2013 to a reported 46 junket licences, although Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) had said it was still evaluating 29 previously licensed operators.
