Local workforce unemployment rate rises to 4%

Macau’s unemployment rate is on the rise amid the Covid-19 pandemic, with the latest figure – covering the period from June to August – rising to 4% for the resident workforce, and to 2.8% overall.
The unemployment situation for the resident workforce is getting tougher, as a 0.2% increase from the previous period from May to July was recorded. Meanwhile, the increase of the overall unemployment rate was 0.1% when compared to the May-July period.
At the same time, the local underemployment rate has also gone up to 3.7%, equating to a 0.4% increase from the previous period.
During this period, the city had a total labor force of 404,000 and a labor force participation rate of 70.2%. A total of 392,500 were employed, 276,600 of which were local residents. These figures decreased by 2,900 and 1,100 respectively.
Analyzed by industry, employment in gaming, junket and hotels activities decreased, while employment in restaurants increased.
With fresh graduates entering the labor market, the proportion of new labor market entrants seeking their first job increased by 6.8% to 16% of the total unemployed.
The number of unemployed people searching for a new job decreased by 500. Most of the unemployed were previously working in the gaming, junkets, retail and the construction sectors.
Compared with June-August 2019, the underemployment rate and the unemployment rate increased by 3.3% and 1% respectively, while the labor force participation rate dropped by 0.1%. AL