The Macau government says it would “not be appropriate to set strict quotas or restrictions” on the number of non-resident workers that can be hired by the city’s casino concessionaires.
To support Macau’s tourism sector and “meet the goals regarding socio-economic development”, the city’s Labour Affairs Bureau said it needed to adopt a “more flexible and pragmatic” approach in terms of the number of employees in the gaming industry.
The comments were made in a written reply to a member of the city’s Legislative Assembly, Song Pek Kei, who had suggested setting a limit on the proportion of “low-level” positions for non-resident workers at the six casino operators.
In its reply, the bureau said it would continue to carry out in a diligent way the work of assessing and approving applications for hiring workers outside of Macau, as well as “reviewing and improving” its own procedures.
It also pledged to launch a number of employment promotional initiatives in accordance with the development of the city’s casino industry, coordinating the balance between supply and demand in the labour market, “to ensure priority and continuity of employment for residents”.
Non-resident workers cannot be casino dealers under policy arrangements maintained by successive Macau administrations. But many non-residents employed in the casino resort sector work in functions such as security, hotel housekeeping, restaurant services, and cleaning duties.
The reply stated that the six casino concessionaires employed 27,140 non-resident workers as of June 30 this year, and 76,225 Macau residents, the latter accounting for 73.7 percent of the aggregate workforce.
At the end of June, the proportion of local employees in middle and senior management positions had reached 90.3 percent, said the labour bureau.
