Briefs | Daily wages of construction workers grow 3.3%

The average daily wage of construction workers grew 3.3% in the first quarter of 2020 compared to the previous quarter. According to data released yesterday by the Statistics and Census Service, the daily wage now stands at 720 patacas for all construction workers. Meanwhile, the daily wage of the non-resident worker segment edged up 0.5% to 607 patacas and that that of the local worker segment dropped 1.8% to 942 patacas. After accounting for the effect of inflation, the wage index of construction workers (88.5) in the first quarter went up by 2.7% quarter-to-quarter in real terms, while that of local construction workers (89.7) dropped by 1.8%. The government has undertaken numerous public works across the city in recent months, making use of the quieter period of less footfall caused by the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.

Cross-border traffic halves in March after anti-pandemic measures adopted

Cross-border vehicular traffic more than halved in March, according to data released by the Statistics and Census Service, which attributes the decline to anti-pandemic measures adopted by the three governments of the Greater Bay Area. For the entire month, cross-border vehicular traffic declined by 54.1% year-on-year to about 203,000 trips, of which that passing via the Border Gate (130,000) and the Cotai Checkpoint (43,000) tumbled by 54.8% and 66.6%, respectively. However, trips across the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge grew by 23.5% to 28,000. In the first quarter of 2020, cross-border vehicular traffic dropped by 40.4% year-on-year to 759,000 trips. Commercial flight activity at the airport dropped even further during the first quarter, falling 51.3% year-on-year to just over 8,400 movements.

Mobile phones, watches, jewelry behind 40% fall in imports

A steep decline in the import of mobile phones, watches and gold jewelry was behind a 40% decline in total merchandise import in March, according to Macau’s government statistics body. In a statement issued yesterday, the Statistics and Census Service reported that the import of mobile phones had declined by 78% year-on-year in March, while that of watches and gold jewelry fell 61.3% and 76.6%, respectively. On the other hand, the import of other textile articles, which comprised mostly of face masks, surged by 365.2% on account of greater demand during the pandemic period. While total merchandise import declined considerably in March, total merchandise export fared considerably better, falling just 9% in year-on-year terms. With imports amounting to 4.22 billion patacas worth of products and services and exports worth 1.08 billion patacas, the merchandise trade deficit totaled 3.14 billion patacas. For the first quarter of 2020, the merchandise trade deficit stood at 13.36 billion patacas, down significantly from 17.77 billion patacas a year earlier.