First quarter with fewer employees in most sectors

Official statistics from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) on the Survey on Manpower Needs and Wages for the first quarter (Q1) of 2023 show that in most of the sectors covered, staff numbers fell.

Highlighted in the results were the hotels and restaurants sectors, which recorded in Q1 this year 3.3% and 1.2% less staff respectively in the number of full-time employees year-on-year.

According to DSEC, at the end of Q1, hotels had 45,801 full-time employees, while in restaurants had 22,605.

Less surprising was the drop of 6.6% year-on-year registered in the manufacturing sector that employed 7,492 full-time employees at the end of March.

The decrease also extended to childcare, which, at the end of Q1, had 1,507 full-time employees, a drop of 2% year-on-year.

From the sectors analyzed by the DSEC, the only sub-sector that registered a growth was aged care, which jumped 8.1% year-on-year to 1,350 full-time workers.

According to the same release, fewer staff equaled more earnings with almost all sectors registering an average increase in staff incomes.

In hotels, the increase was 3.7% year-on-year to an average of MOP19,960, while in the restaurants, the average earnings in March rose 5.1% to MOP10,250. In this sector, however, the earnings of restaurant employees were still 1.7% down when compared to 2019 (pre-pandemic).

Only marginal increases were registered in both childcare and aged care, with the average earnings reaching MOP16,410 and MOP16,310 respectively.

In the manufacturing sector, earnings have risen some 4.6% to MOP12,630.

On the other hand, the electricity, gas and water supply supply lost some 0.6% of workers and average earnings also edged down by the same percentage to MOP30,380.

The DSEC has stated that with the gradual recovery of the economy, the demand for manpower increased with job vacancies going up in hotels (2,611, amounting to an increase of 2,066) and restaurants (2,099, amounting to an increase of 942).

In hotels, 47.8% of the job posts required junior secondary education levels or lower, while 90.7% and 33.2% required knowledge of Mandarin and English respectively.