Staff numbers at Macau hotels fell by 4.7% in Q1

Macau has 47,355 people working at hotels in the city.

Macau.- The Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) has reported that the number of people working at hotels in Macau fell 4.7 per cent in the first quarter of the year to 47,355. However, average earnings, excluding bonuses, were up 4.8 per cent to MOP19,240 due to an improvement in the situation of workers on unpaid leave and a reduction in the number of workers with lower wages. 

In the first quarter, the hotel vacancy rate was 1.1 per cent, down 0.1 percentage points year-on-year. The recruitment rate increased by 0.5 percentage points from 2.9 per cent, which means that some vacancies in hotels were filled.

At the end of 2021, the unemployment rate in Macau was 2.9 per cent, the highest level since the record set in 2009.

Workers in Macau’s gaming industry accounted for 26.5 per cent of the city’s underemployed population in the first quarter of this year, according to a survey recently released by the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ). This figure equates to 2,800 people, a 54.8 per cent decrease compared to the fourth quarter of 2021.

Macau GDP down 8.9% for Q1

Authorities in Macau have revealed that gross domestic product fell by 8.9 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2022. Although they didn’t say what GDP was, it was said to be less than 50 per cent of 2019 levels. In 2021, Macau’s GDP rose by 18 per cent year-on-year to MOP239.4bn.

The drop in Q1 was linked to a fall in the number of overnight arrivals to the city. In the first quarter of 2022, the number of visiting tourists increased by 8 per cent year-on-year to 1,876,847. But the rise was in same-day visitors (up 46 per cent). Overnight visitors fell 25.9 per cent. The gaming industry’s contribution fell by 25.1 per cent.