Lawmaker calls for securing local employment

Lawmaker Ron Lam asked the government about its measures to safeguard employment of the local workforce, such as cutting the number of non-resident workers in larger enterprises.

In his recent written inquiry, Lam questioned if the government would encourage larger enterprises, which he believes the most resourceful in hiring local residents, to offer jobs to the local unemployed. Moreover, he suggested that the government operate internship programs that subsidize small and medium enterprises to hire local residents.

So far, despite the government’s attempts to stabilize the employment market by means such as the introduction of subsidized training and tax relief, the latest local resident unemployment rate was at 4.3% as of February this year.

Meanwhile, 2,000 people reported being unemployed for more than a year. Another 2,000 have been unemployed for half a year.

Income of local residents has also dropped drastically in these two years. Lam pointed out that the number of full-time employed local residents earning MOP16,000 to MOP40,000 per month plunged to 93,000.

In contrast, the number of those earning MOP16,000 per month rose to 68,000; while the number of those earning more than MOP40,000 only rose slightly to 4,500.

The lawmaker sees this as evidence of local residents earning much less during the two years of the pandemic. In addition, he pointed out that the six gambling licensees hired 18,740 non-resident workers as of September 2021.

In the March job-matching session held by the Labor Affairs Bureau, these six organizations only offered 690 positions to local residents.

He also asked if the government had plans for further targeted supportive measures to help workers, as well as assisting small and medium sized enterprises to survive the current challenging circumstances.

He also asked if the government plans to issue further consumption subsidies, as well as make pilot investments to support future economic diversification.