DSEC: Earnings across key sectors grow 2.65 percent

The Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) has released the results of its latest Survey on Manpower Needs and Wages, covering the second quarter of 2017. The average year-on-year growth rate of earnings in four key sectors highlighted by the report was about 2.65 percent.

The results show that employment figures at the end of the second quarter in the sectors of “wholesale and retail trade” (38,110) and “transport, storage and communications” (11,538) grew the fastest year-on-year, each rising by 6.1 percent.

The average earnings (excluding bonuses) for full-time employees in these sectors was MOP13,050 and MOP20,460 respectively, up by 3.6 percent and down by 1.2 percent respectively.

“Security activities” registered a total of 10,760 people employed at the end of the second quarter, down by 1.7 percent year-on-year, while “public sewage and refuse disposal” had 866 persons on payroll, marking a 3.8 percent increase.

Average earnings for these two sectors were up by 4.4 percent to MOP12,960 and 3.8 percent to MOP18,150 respectively.

In the second quarter of 2017, the recruitment rate (6.6 percent) in retail trade rose by 1.3 percentage points year-
on-year while the vacancy rate (6.3 percent) fell by 2.1 percentage points, suggesting that some of the vacancies had already been filled.

The vacancy rate (6.8 percent) in transport, storage and communications dropped by 1.6 percentage points year-on-year, while the turnover rate (5.2 percent) and the recruitment rate (5 percent) rose by 1 and 0.4 percentage points respectively, indicating an easing in demand for human resources in this sector.

As for security activities, the vacancy rate (8.5 percent) and the recruitment rate (3.8 percent) fell by 2 and 0.6 percentage points respectively, while the turnover rate (3.9 percent) went up by 0.2 percentage points.

In terms of recruitment prerequisites, the majority of the vacancies in security activities (75.6 percent), transport, storage and communications (53.9 percent) and wholesale and retail trade (47 percent) required only junior secondary education or lower.

As for language skills, 86 percent and 51.6 percent of the vacancies in retail trade required knowledge of Mandarin and English respectively.