The findings of a survey carried out by the Macau Federation of Trade Unions (commonly known as Gung Luen in Cantonese) show that half of its 3,115 respondents feel stressed about their employment situation, with nearly 75 percent saying that their wages have not been increased since the three-year COVID-19 pandemic period started in early 2020.
Gung Luen, in conjunction with the Macau Economic Association, conducted the survey on Macau residents’ employment situation between January and this month, when their members collected 3,115 valid questionnaires from residents aged at least 16. Representatives of the two groups, including directly-elected lawmaker Leong Sun Iok, presented the survey’s findings yesterday at the Gung Luen headquarters in Patane.
The groups compared respondents’ current salary to that before the pandemic, showing that 74.2 percent of the respondents’ salaries remained unchanged and 18.1 percent had a salary decrease, while 7.6 percent enjoyed a salary increase, with male and female respondents saying that they saw their wages reduced by 21.7 percent and 18.4 percent respectively.
The findings show that the sectors with the highest number of respondents experiencing wage reductions are transport, manufacturing, property management, convention and exhibitions, as well as wholesale and retail. “The more educated the respondents, the lower the percentage of their wage cuts”, according to the findings.
Among the nearly 75 percent of the respondents who had not had their salary increased since the nearly three-year-long pandemic, according to the findings, about 20 percent even suffered a wage cut.
The findings also point out that respondents aged between 46 and 66 were particularly worried about the perceived difficulty of re-entering the labour force due to the fact that, in general, they received higher salaries than the other age groups.
According to the findings, over 40 percent of the respondents complained about the “serious” problem of illegal employment in Macau.
Moreover, the respondents, in general, have a broad consensus and high expectations for Gung Luen to help improve their welfare benefits and safeguard workers’ rights and interests.
In terms of the percentage of respondents who intend to participate in vocational training in the coming year, the findings show that those with a higher education background were more keen to join vocational training programmes than the other employment segments.
Leong urged the government to review the city’s labour relations law, while also strengthening its statutory protection for employees. In view of the fact that quite a few employees hope to improve their income level by changing jobs, he also urged the government to improve the local vocational training mechanism.
Representatives of the Macau Federation of Trade Unions (known as Gung Luen in Cantonese) and the Macau Economic Association, including directly-elected lawmaker Leong Sun Iok (third from right), pose during yesterday’s press conference about their recent survey, at the Gung Luen headquarters in Patane. – Photo: Gung Luen
