Wages of Macau casino workers up despite GGR decline

Oct 28, 2015 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck  

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The ongoing decline in casino gross gaming revenue (GGR) in Macau is not having an impact on salaries paid to employees, show government data published on Wednesday.

The median monthly salary of workers in Macau’s gaming industry has gone up by almost 20 percent since the downturn began in June last year, according to data from the city’s Statistics and Census Service.

Median monthly employment earnings of workers in the Macau gaming sector stood at MOP19,000 (US$2,380) in the third quarter of 2015. That compares with median monthly earnings of MOP16,000 during the second quarter of 2014 – an increase of 18.8 percent.

Macau’s casino GGR growth turned negative in June 2014. Gaming revenue in that month dropped 3.7 percent year-on-year, the first such decline in five years. Casino GGR has since retreated for 16 consecutive months when judged in year-on-year terms.

Accumulated GGR for the first nine months of 2015 stands at MOP176.02 billion, a fall of 36.2 percent compared to the same period in 2014.

Several Macau gaming operators have already implemented cost saving plans to cope with the declining revenues. Although no salary reduction plans have been announced so far, some firms have introduced measures to control payroll-related costs, including allowing more unpaid leaves and cutting on overtime.

The gaming sector is not only paying more since the downturn began; it is also employing more people, show the data from the Statistics and Census Service. The sector employed 84,200 people in the third quarter of 2015, up by about 4,100 employees from the second quarter of 2014. The increase is partially due to the opening of the second phase of Galaxy Macau and Broadway Macau on May 27, both operated by Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd.

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