Secretary for Economy and Finance Lei Wai Nong said yesterday that even though Macau has become an ageing society, many senior citizens still have the physical strength, experience and knowledge to continue to serve society, adding he hopes that the community would treat all employment opportunities equally.
Lei made the remarks during an oral interpellation plenary session yesterday in the legislature’s hemicycle, adding that the government would continue to pay close attention to issues such as age discrimination in the labour market.
Lei underlined that if an employer discriminates against an employee or job applicant without reasonable grounds, he or she can be fined between 20,000 and 50,000 patacas, adding that until the end of last year there were no cases involving age discrimination.
Labour Affairs Bureau (DSAL) Acting Director Chan Chon U told the lawmakers that when handling suspected discrimination cases, the bureau would investigate and obtain possible evidence from both employers and employees, and if it was proved that an employee had been dismissed just because of his or her age, the employer might have to pay dismissal compensation, adding that in the first four months of this year, 782 people aged 65 or above registered as job seekers, accounting for 4.3 percent of the total number of job seekers, mainly seeking jobs in construction, security and cleaning.
Govt to watch AI closely
During yesterday’s oral interpellation, Lei also said that the government was closely following the development of artificial intelligence (AI) technology and its role in various industries as well as the international legislative trends in regulating AI.
Lei added that the providers of generative AI products should be responsible for the legitimacy of the data sources of their products, and they should not contain content infringing intellectual property rights.
Lei said he believed that the development of AI can improve work efficiency, but should not be separated from the supervision by humans, adding that during the three-year COVID-19 pandemic, the Economic and Technological Development Bureau (DSEDT) gave advice on back-office management solutions to local small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through digital technology.
