In Macau, the rate of unemployed and underemployed workers in the gaming industry is down since borders finally reopened on January 8. The easing of strict Covid prevention measures has also boosted gross gaming revenues (GGR) in the city’s casino industry.
According to GGRAsia, the jobless rate was 3.4 percent in the three months leading to January 31, down 0.1 percentage point from the previous three-month period, from October to December 2022. The underemployment rate also declined for the period, with a “notable drop” in workers experiencing joblessness in the city’s gaming industry.
In the third quarter of 2022, some 23,300 gaming workers in Macau were counted as underemployed, according to official data—up 19,200 quarter-on-quarter.
“With the relaxation of border measures and a number of events taking place prior to the Lunar New Year [in late January], the demand for local manpower increased,” said the city’s Statistics and Census Service. “Among the unemployed searching for a new job, most of them were previously engaged in gaming and junket activities and in the construction sector.”
Macau Business reports that Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng is encouraging those who remain jobless to return to work. “After the pandemic policies loosened, Macau’s situation is for now ‘quite good’,” said Ho. “There is a shortage of manpower as a result. I hope that more Macau citizens will take part in the development of Macau.”
While masks are no longer mandated indoors (with the exception of hospitals, medical institutions, elderly homes and on public transportation) many Macau casino workers are choosing to wear them to prevent illness.
Stephen Lau Ka Weng, president of Power of the Macao Gaming Association, told Inside Asian Gaming, “We have received a lot of feedback from staff and members of other organizations that most of them would like to wear masks at work because they are worried about the high density of people in the casinos and the rapid spread of diseases.
“Currently, gaming staff can choose whether to wear masks at work, and there is no mandatory requirement for staff to remove their masks.”
Meanwhile, as reported by IAG, the city’s casinos recorded GGR of MOP$10.32 billion (US$1.28 billion) in February, up 33.1 percent from last year and continuing the momentum that began in January.
According to Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ), in January, which included the week-long Chinese New Year holiday, tourists poured back into the gaming hub and revenues hit a three-year high, with combined GGR for the first two months up 55.3 percent year-on-year to MOP$21.90 billion (US$2.71 billion).
