Average December earnings of Macau table-games dealers fell by 6.1 percent year-on-year, according to the city’s 2020 fourth-quarter sectoral survey on manpower needs and wages.
The average December income for a dealer in Macau was MOP19,800 (US$2,476). Under a local-government policy, only Macau ID holders can be Macau casino dealers.
The average earnings – excluding bonuses – of full-time employees in Macau’s gaming sector in December fell by 4.9 percent year-on-year, to MOP23,440, according to the survey, published on Tuesday by Macau’s Statistics and Census Service.
It was not clear from the information provided whether the reduction was linked to the widespread introduction by local casino firms of unpaid leave schemes. Such moves have come with the downturn in tourism amid travel restrictions relating to Covid-19, as the casino industry has looked to cut its operating costs.
The survey excluded people working either for VIP gambling junket promoters or for junket associates.
The tally of full-time employees in the gaming sector in the fourth quarter of 2020 went down by 1,612 from the prior-year period, to 56,613, a decline of 2.8 percent.
The number of table-games dealers totalled 25,164, down by 295 year-on-year, and by 180 from the second quarter of 2020.
The latest gaming manpower needs and wages survey showed that in aggregate during the reporting period, 57.8 percent of sector employees were women. Additionally, 94.4 percent of all sectoral employees were on shift work, reflecting the 24-hour operational cycle of Macau’s casinos.
“As affected by the pandemic, [the] number of vacancies decreased by 417 year-on-year to 26” in the three months to December 31, said the survey.
The city-wide unemployment rate for the fourth quarter was 2.7 percent, down 0.2 percentage points from the third quarter, according to other data released previously by the statistics service.
