Human resources | Skilled expats stall, while non-skilled soar 160 percent

A man pulls a handcart loaded with boxes along a street in Macau

The number of non-resident workers in Macau has risen unabatedly over the last five years, largely due to the growth of the gaming industry over the past decade.
Over the same period, the number of skilled imported workers in Macau has grown only marginally, which has been attributed to difficulties in renewing work permits for foreign workers.
According to data from the Statistics and Census (DSEC), there were around 70,000 foreign workers in mid-2010. The Public Security Police (PSP) reported up to 181,415 as of January 31, 2016, an increase of almost 160 percent in just over half a decade.
Foreign workers in Macau effectively account for just over a quarter of the territory’s total population.
This growth is mostly driven by the arrival of mainland Chinese workers, who are largely involved in non-skilled labor. By late January 2016, PRC nationals accounted for approximately 63.7 percent of the imported labor workforce (115,688), while those from the Philippines (24,934), Vietnam (14,989) and Hong Kong (8,821) accounted for roughly 13.7 percent, 8.3 percent and 4.9 percent, respectively.
However, while non-skilled labor is on the rise, the proportion of imported labor that falls under the category of “professional” (skilled, qualified employees) has steadily declined proportionally from 7 percent in January 2011 to 3.68 percent in November 2015, according to DSEC.
Most foreign workers from the Americas (683), Europe (985) and Oceania (355) are involved in skilled employment.
Kam Man Ho, the PR and Communications Manager at the Consulate General of France in Hong Kong and Macau, told the Times that many French nationals in the MSAR are “involved in trade and retail activities (wholesale, retail, import/export, logistics).”
Kam added that there has been a rise in skilled foreign workers from France, due to the country’s growing status as a key supplier of cosmetics, luxury goods, wine and spirits.
Howard Stribbell is the Head of School at The International School (TIS) of Macau and President of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Macau; both positions keep him informed about the recruitment of workers from abroad.
“We continue to see expats coming into Macau,” Stribbell told the Times. “However, we are also hearing of some expats’ [applications] being declined when their work visas are due for renewal.”
The exact reasons for the decline remain unclear in some instances. A representative of the Labour Affairs Bureau (DSAL) told the Times that under the law, “the importation of non-resident workers is only allowed on a temporary basis under the conditions of equal cost and efficiency when [the] local labor force is insufficient or non-existent.” According to the bureau, this policy is in place to protect employment opportunities for locals.
With the unemployment rate hovering around a healthy 2 percent (the rate stood at 1.9 percent throughout the second half of 2015), local Macau residents reportedly have few difficulties securing employment.
Furthermore, the growing population of wealthier and better-educated local residents (the average wage reached MOP15,000 in November) is looking at occupations in the service sector, crowding out skilled imported workers from the market.
On the government’s grants of work visas to skilled foreigners, Stribbell said: “The government acknowledges that the demand for service sector workers exceeds the number of Macau workers who are currently available. As such, it facilitates the employment of foreigners while also protecting local citizens’ jobs.”
“Anecdotally, it seems like the number [of expat workers] is remaining the same or slightly decreasing,” he added.
In contrast, Kam Man Ho estimated that the size of Macau’s French population might have doubled over the last five years, despite government figures revealing little change in the number of aggregate foreign workers from Europe, the Americas, and Oceania.
This may be a deliberate policy on the part of government agencies. A DSAL representative told the Times that the Human Resources Office “adopts a pragmatic attitude to appropriately adjusting the number of non- resident workers in response to social economic development trends.”
Imported skilled workers may find it difficult to obtain long-term employment in the MSAR if the Human Resources Office someday deems the local labor market sufficiently qualified for job postings. However, with a growing number of qualified local residents, Macau’s population of imported non-skilled workers is set to continue its upward trajectory. Staff reporter