Mainland offers ‘unsuitable lifestyle’ for Macau residents, who won’t work, live there

Study organizers including Agnes Lam (center), director of the Centre for Macau Studies

A survey gauging the willingness of Macau residents to participate in the Greater Bay Area project has found that most respondents are neither willing to work nor live in the mainland cities, because it would offer them an “unsuitable lifestyle.” The study, conducted by the University of Macau’s (UM) Centre for Macau Studies, did not state specifically what the term referred to.

More than 60% of the survey respondents said they were not willing to live in the mainland cities of the Greater Bay Area or in Hong Kong. About 76.5% of these people said the neighboring mainland cities offered them an “unsuitable lifestyle,” while about 52.4% of respondents said that the same reason made Hong Kong an unattractive place to work and live.

Of the 37.9% who indicated an interest in living or working in other Greater Bay cities, significant differences were observed in the variables of sex, age, level of education, employment status, occupation, self-identity, frequency of travelling to mainland China, whether the respondents or their family members are working in mainland China, and whether the respondents or their family members have studied in mainland China.

The survey found that younger respondents and those with a college degree or above held a more open attitude towards working or living in Greater Bay cities other than Macau.

Meanwhile, “most respondents at the age of 55 or above are not willing to spend their elderly years in mainland GBA cities,” contrary to government propaganda that has sought to encourage the use of the mainland as an extended retirement home for Macau residents.

Meanwhile, just 23% of the respondents showed a positive attitude towards working or living in Hong Kong, with significant differences in sex, age, level of education, employment status, place of birth, and self-identity. The main reason for willing to consider working or living in Hong Kong is better career prospects, reported by 62.4% of the respondents who responded positively.

Although respondents who are willing to work or live in mainland Greater Bay cities have a slightly greater sense of self-identity as Chinese, survey organizers said the difference is not statistically significant. Likewise, the respondents who are willing to work or live in mainland Greater Bay cities have a greater sense of self-identity as Macau residents, but the difference is not statistically significant either.

The survey also found that about half of the respondents are willing to see more residents from other Greater Bay Area cities visiting Macau as tourists or investors. However, less than 30% of the respondents are willing to have more residents from these cities as workers or immigrants in Macau.

A total of 557 telephone interviews with Macau residents aged 15 and above were successfully completed for the survey, which was conducted between December 17 and 30, 2018.

The survey was conducted by the Guangdong-Hong Kong- Macau Greater Bay Area Policy Research Team of the Centre for Macau Studies, established last year. The team is led by lawmaker Agnes Lam, who is also the director of the Centre for Macau Studies.

Other members of the team include Sheng Li, associate dean of UM’s Faculty of Social Sciences; Prof Yu Wing Yat and Prof Ngo Tak Wing from the Department of Government and Public Administration, and Prof Kwan Fung and Prof Chan Chi Shing from the Department of Economics.