Vox Pop by Rui Pastorin
Macau can be an expensive city to live in. And as prices continue to rise, the Post spoke with some non-local workers around Rotunda de Carlos da Maia, colloquially known as “Three Lamps” (三盞燈), and the city centre to learn more about their views on the city’s cost of living, along with their lives here.
Grateful, but hoping for a better situation for others
Laura has been working in Macau as a domestic helper for around seven years. She said she is blessed to have a good employer as well as being able to earn a higher-than-average local salary. Having a family back in the Philippines, she earns enough to be able to send some of her earnings back home to her son, while being a “stay-in” worker also helps keep her costs down, only needing to rent a room at a boarding house on Sundays as a “weekender”.
However, she remarked that Macau is, overall, expensive and that going out for things like dining can be “a waste of money”. Speaking on behalf of other domestic workers, Laura said she hoped that there could be a way to standardise their salaries as well as to have to the chance of a wage hike, although she admitted that she has been fortunate on the salary front, while others might not be so.
Meanwhile, Ela, also a domestic helper, came to Macau in 2019 when the cost of living was “not too expensive”, she said, adding that, however, she felt that it has since gone up in the past three or four years. “Here, the salary of a domestic helper is not high”, while rent can also be pricey, she added. “It’s quite expensive”, highlighting her expenses on food and other items.
Like Laura, Ela also said she is able to earn a wage a bit higher than others in her field, allowing her to do alright. But Ela also said she hoped there would be a way for other migrant workers to speak out on the need for higher salaries.
‘A little bit expensive’
“It’s a little bit expensive” said a Nepalese cleaner in his thirties. Earning a salary of 7,500 patacas, he shares a room with another person, needing to pay around 1,700 patacas per month. Regarding food, he said that even if they cook at home, costs remain high. “We need to spend like 800 patacas to 1,000 patacas a month per person, even if we cook or buy things from the market”.
Compared to when he first started working in Macau at a job that provided food and accommodation in the mid-2010s to again returning this year without those benefits, expenses are high. He also felt that living costs and products from the market were also cheaper back then.
“If we work for like a month and get a salary of 7,500 patacas, then we almost spend three, four thousand patacas only on living and then we save half or something like that”. He added that the salary was not equivalent to the cost of living here, “so it’s very hard to survive”.
A better situation
“The prices of goods are getting higher, along with the price of rent” noted Robby, a 34-year-old from the Philippines who works in the hotel industry. However, he added that his salary, from which 20 percent goes to paying for rent in a shared room, is enough. “It’s unlike before, when I first came here and had to work 16 hours just to cope with all my bills and send money back home”, adding that his current situation was better while also being able to save some money.
Shoppers buy products from a convenience store that also sells items from the Philippines. – Photo taken last night by Rui Pastorin.