Business sector lawmakers want more and cheaper manpower

The lawmakers Chui Sai Peng and Wang Sai Man, jointly with the business sectors, are calling on the government to remedy labor shortages by allowing more non-resident workers (TNR).

The two lawmakers, in separate spoken inquiries delivered at the Legislative Assembly in the period before the agenda on Wednesday, said that the survival of local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) depends on cheaper labor. They called on the government to accelerate authorizations to import unskilled labor.

Chui noted that the SMEs are at a crucial point in their development and that only by being able to hire TNR will they be able to benefit from the economic recovery that is gradually taking place as more tourists enter Macau.

The same lawmaker also called on the government to promote an extension, until 2024, of the tax and fees exemptions and reductions as well as a pause to the payment of interest on subsidies, included in the package of “Measures to support the fight against the epidemic” and worth ten billion patacas, stating that the “radical elimination [at once of] all support measures for the SMEs is harmful at a time when [SMESs] need to be recovering.”

Chui also proposed the government consider creating a special “Work Card” with a duration of just one year to be renewed three months before expiration to ensure the continuing need for such manpower. The purpose would be to facilitate the hiring and dismissal of these workers, who would be “temporary” and not regular TNR, so that companies could have some time to use this affordable labor to pay their accumulated debts.