Foreign labor falls in June

Macau received fewer migrant workers in June than in May, the Labour Affairs Bureau revealed yesterday in its reply to lawmaker Lei Cheng I’s written enquiry. Earlier, Lei had stated in her interpellation that the region’s numbers of imported labor still rose against a background of higher unemployment.
Authorities said that up to 212,381 imported workers were allowed into the region in June, which is 1,591 less than the number in May. Wong Chi Hong, director of the bureau, said that the 1.8-percent unemployment rate, which he described as “extremely low,” reflected the “still healthy environment” in general.
He added that the administration was always ready to scrap the permits allowing specific industries to hire foreign workers, which were subject to the economic landscape and “actual circumstances.” According to the latest survey by the Statistics and Census Service, the historic low unemployment rate of 1.7 percent no longer applies.
The policymaker urged the government to tighten its grip on foreign labor imports to ensure that there are job opportunities for locals, and to activate a scheme to reduce the number of migrant workers amid the growing trend of unemployment.  Staff reporter