Editorial
The government’s announcement this week that some measures of its stimulus package will include non-resident workers (NRWs) makes economic and social sense – and it is fair to boot.
Unsurprisingly, the measure has been happily welcomed by Macau’s about 175,000 NRWs who had been excluded from the government’s previous two rounds of financial support measures in response to the harsh impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the local economy in general and people’s livelihoods in particular. The novel coronavirus crisis has hurt low-income earners’ pockets the most. Many NRWs are among Macau’s financially most stressed employees.
Of course, not all NRWs are lowly-paid migrant workers. Many earn pretty good wages thanks to their vocational skills and professionalism. As a matter of fact, Macau’s NRWs comprise a wide range of occupations and professions as well as nationalities.
As of the end of January (the latest available official data), two-third of Macau’s NRWs were compatriots from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The remainder were foreign nationals, most of them from the Philippines (30,879), Vietnam (12,323), Indonesia (5,805) and Nepal (3,925).
Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the number of NRWs in January was down by 9.1 percent year-on-year. In personal terms the decline has surely been dramatic for many of them. In economic terms it is a logical consequence of the global health crisis. I have been told that the salaries of many NRWs have been sharply reduced in the wake of the COVID-19 predicament, and quite a few are said to have been put on unpaid leave or dismissed. However, many local employees have faced the same fate. No doubt, it’s still better to earn a lower salary than to end up jobless. The harsh economic realities are affecting many people in Macau, both residents and NRWs, not just employees but employers (like my-humble-self) as well. We all have to get through this as humanely as possible. The government’s financial and non-pecuniary mitigation measures have been a big help for many here – both employees and employers.
The pandemic’s impact on the local economy has been severe. According to official statistics, last year’s gross domestic product (GDP) plummeted by 56.3 percent in real terms, while per capita GDP in real terms fell by 56.8 percent year-on-year 285,314 patacas (US$35,707 at yesterday’s exchange rate). Statistically, the COVID-19-induced GDP downturn has been precipitous. Thank heavens, the Macau Special Administrative Region’s (MSAR) well-filled piggy bank has had a cushioning effect on the economic fallout from the novel coronavirus menace. Without the government’s cushy income from direct gaming taxes over the past two decades Macau would have been in hock since early last year.
Without the wealth created by its casinos and the hard work of its NRWs, Macau would have been unable to get through the current crisis relatively unscathed. It is a truism that Macau’s economy simply can’t function without NRWs.
However, while NRWs should always been treated with dignity and fairness, I agree with the government’s stance that priority must always been given to locals as far as employment is concerned. It’s normal that the rights and duties of a resident and a NRW aren’t the same – not only in Macau but everywhere. For instance, a foreigner working in the Philippines cannot expect to be granted the same employment rights as a Filipino. That’s a matter of common sense and economic necessity.
In this context, I think that while NRWs ought to be treated decently, one should also expect NRWs to behave decently during their stay here. Those who break the law should be deported after serving time.
I also think that the right to demonstrate should be restricted to locals. In any case, Article 27 of the Macau Basic Law clearly states that “Macau residents shall have the freedom… of demonstration…”. The Basic Law is Macau’s highest local law and that’s what matters, not what some lawmakers or lawyers reportedly said or purportedly thought about the issue before the establishment of the MSAR in 1999.
I am sure that the great majority of our NRWs are focused on earning as much as they can here so that they can support their families in their home countries to the best of their ability. Political issues affecting their native lands should remain a private matter for them as long as they work in Macau. It’s better that way for both sides.
– Harald Brüning
