The Macau Management Association (MMA) conducted a survey in July regarding local residents’ job mobility, i.e., the movement of employees across grades or positions, and its findings showed that Macau’s economic recovery not only directly expanded the local job market, but also injected new vitality into the city’s economy.
The association collected 1,050 questionnaires via social media platforms and in the streets from local residents, with most of them aged between 22 and 40. Some 94 percent of the respondents said they had secondary school or a higher education level.
Representatives of the association, including economist Samuel Tong Kai Chung, president of the Macau Institute of Management (MIM), presented the findings of the survey yesterday at the MMA office in Zape.
According to the findings, the proportion of respondents who said they were underemployed fell “sharply” to 1.05 percent from 8.09 percent last year, while the proportion of unemployed was down 3.50 percentage points over the same period. However, still more than 26 percent of the survey’s respondents said that they worried about being laid off due to the “severe” employment situation.
The findings also show that respondents were satisfied with their current jobs after going through the three-year COVID-19 pandemic which began to hit Macau in January 2020, with employees’ willingness to change jobs decreasing year on year by 5.15 percentage points to 65.04 percent this year.
According to the findings, the hospitality and tourism industry, as well as the gaming industry have become local employees’ top priority when looking for a new job, with respondents paying particular attention to their personal interests and future professional achievements rather than just salaries and their promotion opportunities in their new job.
The findings show that 66.43 percent of the respondents have not been promoted in their current job this year, while only 12.31 percent said that they have a clear career plan that they will follow in the future, and fewer than 14 percent said that they intend to become self-employed.
During yesterday’s press conference, the representatives urged employees to continuously improve their personal productivity, while also urging employers to provide their staff with comprehensive career development opportunities, ensure fair, diverse and inclusive hiring and promotion policies, and create a supportive, open and encouraging work environment.
According to the latest available official statistics, local residents’ unemployment rate stood at 3.1 percent in the August-October employment survey period, down by 1.5 percentage points year on year.
Macau Management Association (MMA) representatives, including economist Samuel Tong Kai Chung (right), president of the Macau Institute of Management (MIM), pose during yesterday’s press conference about their recent survey on local residents’ job mobility, on the MMA premises in Zape.
– Photo: MMA
