Casino employment steady, salaries up 5 percent

The latest survey by the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) on gaming industry manpower and wages revealed that at the end of the second quarter of 2017, the number of full-time employees was similar to last year’s 55,726, of which the number of croupiers dropped 1.3 percent to 23,980.

DSEC said in a statement that the survey, which excludes all junket promoters and associates,  registered a 5 percent increase in croupiers’ wages during the same period of time. Full-time employees’ average earnings, excluding bonuses, were MOP23,080 – an increase of 4.6 percent year-on-
year – while the average earnings of dealers increased 5.1 percent to MOP19,930.

Job vacancies in the sector numbered 923 at the end of June, up by 36.4 percent year-on-
year. More than half of these vacancies were for clerks and almost a third were for dealers.

Employers also demanded higher academic qualifications for candidates. About 65 percent of jobs stipulated proficiency in Mandarin Chinese as a requirement, while 35 percent required English proficiency. Some 73 percent of jobs still listed senior secondary education as their minimum requirement.

The figures show a consolidation of the casino sector after the 2014-2016 gaming recession. When compared to the results of the 2012 survey, the number of gaming sector employees has held more or less stable until today, registering growth of just 1.6 percent over the last five years.

The average gaming salaries registered faster growth in this period, with full-time monthly compensation growing by about 28 percent compared to 2012.

The number of job vacancies halved between 2012 and 2017, while the employee turnover rate decreased from 3.8 percent in 2012 to 1.7 percent in 2017. RM