Macau’s gaming and hospitality industries have hired 1,800 workers in the three months to April 30, according to data published on Thursday by the city’s Statistics and Census Service.
The data showed that the number of people working in the gaming and junket sector totalled 67,800 in the February to April period. That was up 2.2 percent compared to 66,400 workers in the January to March period.
In the hospitality sector, the number of workers stood at 23,200 at the end of the three-month period to April 30. That represented a 1.9-percent increase versus the 22,800 people employed in the three months to March 31, according to the data.
Macau’s general unemployment rate stood at 2.8 percent as of April 30, down 0.3 percentage points from the January to March period. “The underemployment rate edged down by 0.1 percentage point to 2.1 percent,” stated the statistics bureau.
In comparison with February to April 2022, the city’s unemployment rate decreased by 0.7 percentage points.
Macau casino operators have been hiring hundreds of workers as the industry ramps up following the relaxation in early January of Covid-19 countermeasures and related travel restrictions.
Several of the city’s casino firms said recently that the number of available rooms at their properties during the first quarter this year was limited due to “staffing constraints”. By early May however they were already operating near full capacity after hiring and training more employees.
