The People Power Macau grassroots group handed in a petition to Labour Affairs Bureau (DSAL) Director Wong Chi Hong calling for a mechanism for the hiring of non-resident workers (NRWs) subject to the median income of different industries, as well as a cap on NRWs employment quotas and an increase in the minimum hourly wage for local employees to 36 patacas.
The current minimum wage for local employees stands at 32 patacas per hour.
The government announced late last month that it was proposing to raise Macau’s statutory minimum wage to between 34 and 36 patacas per hour.
Lam Weng Ioi, secretary-general of the group, told reporters outside the DSAL headquarters, “The large number of imported NRWs has severely compressed the employment of local residents”, adding that although the local job market has improved along with the end of the three-year COVID-19 pandemic, the employment conditions of local people were still “seriously” impacted.
In response to the “increasing number of NRWs in the local job market”, Lam urged the government to refer to Hong Kong’s labour importation scheme in order to regulate and limit the NRW quotas in Macau, while “scientifically” setting up a unified standard for the proportion of local and non-local employees, according to different industries. Although Hong Kong has also put forward a policy on the importation of NRWs at this stage, Lam added, there were still “quite a few” provisions the local government could learn from.
According to figures released by the Statistic and Census Bureau (DSEC), there were 165,273 NRWs in Macau in June, mainly from the mainland, the Philippines and Vietnam, accounting for 115,260, 25,799, and 7,285 respectively.
Lam also urged the government to reference the practice of Hong Kong in its NRW employment policy to ensure that their wages would never be lower than the median wages of local employees, while also increasing the minimum wage for local employees from 32 patacas per hour to 36 patacas.
Lam said: “The median local wage reflects the income status of local employees in the industry”, adding that if the wages of NRWs are lower than Macau’s median salary, the income level of local employees would go down, thus affecting their rights and interests.
Considering that it has been three years since the local government enacted the minimum wage law for local employees in 2020, Lam said the government should review the relevant law in raising the local minimum wage standard, so as to protect the livelihoods of low-income local people from inflationary pressure.
People Power Macau Secretary-General Lam Weng Ioi talks to reporters yesterday after handing in his group’s petition addressed to Labour Affairs Bureau (DSAL) Director Wong Chi Hong, outside the DSAL headquarters.
– Photo: Yuki Lei
