Macau’s general unemployment rate – comprising local residents and non-resident workers – dipped to 1.9 percent compared with this year’s February-April employment survey period, 0.2 percentage points down from the previous period (January-March 2024), a return to the pre-pandemic rate of the December 2019-February 2020 period, the Statistics and Census Bureau (DSEC) has announced.
Macau confirmed its first COVID-19 case on January 22, 2020. The novel coronavirus pandemic severely affected Macau’s economy for three consecutive years (2020-2022).
According to a DSEC statement on Friday, local residents’ unemployment rate dropped by 0.2 percentage points to 2.5 percent in the February-April period compared with the previous survey period (January-March 2024), and it also returned to the pre-pandemic December 2019-February 2020 period.
Macau’s underemployment rate dropped by 0.1 percentage point to 1.4 percent.
The bureau pointed out that employment in Macau’s non-gaming sectors rose in the February-April survey period.
Between February and April, the labour force living in Macau totalled 379,700, while the labour force participation rate stood at 67.6 percent.
Total employment (372,300) and the number of employed residents (284,400) rose by 1,200 and 400 respectively from the previous period, “mainly driven by employment growth in non-gaming industries,” the statement said. While jobs in the finance and construction sectors grew, those in real estate fell.
The number of unemployed (7,400) decreased by 600 from the previous period, marking the fourth consecutive periods of decline, the statement said, adding that the number of unemployed persons aged 16 to 34 continued to decrease, while the number of unemployed higher education graduates declined for six consecutive survey periods.
Macau’s minimum employment age stands at 16.
According to the statement, the number of underemployed (5,400) fell by 200 from the previous period, most of them working in the construction and transport and storage sectors.
According to data from the Labour Affairs Bureau (DSAL), Macau’s number of non-resident workers (NRWs) stood at 179,768 at the end of April, a year-on-year growth of 13.6 percent but a 5.4 percent decrease from pre-pandemic April 2019.
At the end of April this year, the number of non-resident workers (NRWs) included 121,818 compatriots from the mainland, 2,345 from Hong Kong and 598 from Taiwan, or 69.4 percent of the total. The remainder were foreign nationals including 29,685 Filipinos, 7,969 Vietnamese, 6,572 Indonesians, 3,785 Myanmarese and 3,612 Nepalis.
At the end of the first quarter, Macau’s population stood at 686,400, according to the latest available demographics, a 2.3 percent increase from the same period in pre-pandemic 2019.
Sales assistants serve customers in a food souvenir shop in the city centre yesterday.
– Photo: Carl Leong
