Briefs | Unemployment holds stable at 2 percent

The general unemployment rate for the three-month period of February to April 2017 held stable at 2 percent, according to a statement issued by the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC). The unemployment rate of local residents was 2.7 percent, down by 0.1 percentage points compared to the previous three-month period of January-March. Meanwhile, the underemployment rate remained unchanged at 0.5 percent. The total labor force in the February-April period was about 389,200. Total employment was 381,500 and the number of employed residents was 280,000, up by 2,000 and 1,900 from the previous period, respectively. On the other hand, the number of unemployed (7,700) residents dropped by 200. Fresh labor force entrants searching for their first job accounted for 9.7 percent of the unemployed

DSEC surveys banking sector employment

The Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) published data on human resources and employment in the banking sector in a statement released last week. The data showed that the number of full time employees across the 28 banks in the MSAR increased by 53 year-on-year to 6,053 at the end of the first quarter of 2017. At the same time, the banking sector hired 174 new employees in the first quarter, and had an employee turnover rate and employee recruitment rate of 3 percent and 2.9 percent respectively. In terms of recruitment prerequisites, 64.5 percent of the vacancies required work experience, 96.3 percent required tertiary education, and the requirement for knowledge of Mandarin and English accounted for 98.4 percent and 97.1 percent respectively. By occupation, there were 1,626 directors and managers and 2,030 clerks. In March, the average wage (excluding bonuses) of full-time employees amounted to MOP26,020, an increase of 3.5 percent year-on-year.

FAOM eschews election activities during sponsored events

The Macau Federation of Trade Unions (FAOM) claims that it will not organize any election activities during events sponsored by the Macao Foundation, as announced last week by the FAOM vice president on a phone call during a TDM talk show. According to the president, FAOM has applied for financial support from the Macao Foundation in more than 1,000 activities that the association has organized in the past three years. Moreover, FAOM guarantees that it will not do anything illegal and that it will use all funds it receives from the government to help FAOM members and society.

Water area management law to be delivered to AL

Director of the Legal Affairs Bureau (DSAJ) Liu Dexue has revealed that the laws regarding Macau’s water area management are expected to be delivered to the Legislative Assembly (AL) in the first quarter. According to a report by Macao Daily News, the authority completed a public consultation as well as drafts of the law, which will soon be delivered to the Chief Executive Council for discussion. Along with the aforementioned law, the DSAJ is currently following up on more than ten additional laws. Laws regarding the registration of boats have already progressed to a preliminary draft stage. Laws and regulations on the city’s taxis are also being processed.