Macau’s unemployment rate between December 2014 and February 2015 continued to stand at 1.7 per cent, as it has for the last 15 consecutive months, the latest data from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) reveals.
In these three months, the total labour force of Macau was 403,400, which is down by 1,100 from the previous period, despite the labour force participation rate remaining at 74 per cent.
In fact, according to DSEC, the unemployment rate of the Special Administrative Region has not changed since December 2013. The underemployment rate also remains stable, at 0.4 per cent.
The total employment of Macau in the three months was 396,500, representing a decrease of 1,300 from November 2014 to January 2015. DSEC said the decrease may be due to the hotel and restaurant industries as well as similar activities and the construction industry seeing fewer demands for their labour force.
Meanwhile, the number of unemployed was 6,900, a period-on-period increase of 200; 9.2 per cent of the total unemployed are fresh labour forces still searching for their first job in the city. However, the proportion of fresh manpower accounted for by the total unemployed decreased by 2.1 percentage points.
In terms of year-on-year comparison, both the unemployment rate and the underemployment rate remained constant while the labour force participation rate increased by 0.6 percentage points.
The gaming industry, together with recreational and cultural services, continued to account for the greatest proportion of the total labour force at 24.1 per cent of the total.
Meanwhile, another 14.6 per cent of total manpower was working in the construction field in the three months, followed by 13.7 per cent working in hotels, restaurants and similar activities.
The other three main industries of the city in terms of number of employees were the wholesale & retail trade, real estate & business activities, and public administration & security, of which the number of workers account for 11.1 per cent, 7.8 per cent and 6.8 per cent of the total, respectively.
K.L.

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