GGRAsia – Locals hold 77pct of top casino posts in Macau: study

Locals hold 77pct of top casino posts in Macau: study

Dec 18, 2018 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck

The proportion of Macau locals in top management posts in the city’s gaming industry stands at about 76.8 percent. That is according to the results of a study by the Macao Polyethnic Institute commissioned by the Macau government’s Talents Development Committee.

The same study stated that the proportion of Macau locals in middle-management posts in the gaming industry stood at 97.4 percent. In addition, locals accounted for 91.7 percent of all workers in low-management positions in casinos.

The data was disclosed in a press release by the Talents Development Committee published earlier this month. There was no reference in the document to when was the data collected.

The release stated that, according to the study, Macau’s gaming sector employed more than 60,000 people, of which 93.4 percent were locals. Imported labour accounted for approximately 26.4 percent of Macau’s overall employed population in the third quarter of 2018, which stood at 387,600, show data from the city’s Statistics and Census Service.

The press release stated that members of a working group from the Talents Development Committee tasked with discussing the study results, concluded there was still room to increase the number of locals in top management posts in the gaming sector. In order to achieve that, gaming operators should offer more training opportunities to local workers, it was suggested.

The Macau government has said it wants to increase the share of locals working in middle- and upper-level management positions in the city’s casino industry to 85 percent by 2020. Chief Executive Fernando Chui Sai On said last month the Macau government would continue to “strictly assess” applications for the importation of foreign workers based on prevailing economic conditions, and encourage large-scale enterprises – including the city’s casino operators – to hire a greater number of local workers.

According to the government’s “mid-term review” of the gaming industry – contained in a report published in May 2016 – Macau residents accounted for approximately 82 percent of employees in middle or senior management positions in the casino industry at the end of 2014.