Macau's general unemployment rate (4.0 percent) and local residents' unemployment rate (5.2 percent) for July-September both decreased by 0.3 percentage points from the previous survey period (June-August), indicating a slight improvement in the local employment situation, according to data released by the Statistics and Census Bureau (DSEC) yesterday.
However, the underemployment rate held steady at 16.5%.
The labour force living in Macau totalled 378,200. The labour force participation rate stood at 68.9 percent. Total employment was 363,000 and the number of employed residents totalled 280,000, up by 100 and 1,700 respectively from the previous period.
The number of the unemployed decreased by 1,100 from the previous period to 15,200. Among the unemployed looking for a new job, most of them were previously worked in the gaming, junket and construction sectors.
Meanwhile, the proportion of new labour market entrants seeking their first job increased by 1.1 percentage points to 13.1 percent of the total unemployed.
The number of the underemployed dropped by 100 from the previous period to 62,500, with the majority working in gaming and junket businesses, hotels, restaurants and retail.
The general unemployment rate (4.0 percent) and local residents' unemployment rate (5.2 percent) in the third quarter rose by 0.3 and 0.4 percentage points respectively from the previous quarter, owing to a local COVID-19 outbreak in June. Total employment decreased by 1,200 quarter-to-quarter, while the number of employed residents rose by 4,500. Employment in the gaming and junket sector (66,400) and hotels, restaurants and similar businesses (44,000) dropped by 3,200 and 2,900 respectively quarter-to-quarter.
Median monthly employment earnings of the employed in the third quarter dropped by 1,300 patacas quarter-to-quarter to 14,000 patacas; median earnings of those employed by the gaming/junket and the construction sectors stood at 16,000 patacas and 14,300 patacas respectively. Employed local residents' median earnings decreased by 2,400 patacas quarter-to-quarter to 17,000 patacas.
