Non-resident workers exceed 150,000

The number of non-residents in Macau has climbed to over 155,310 by the end of June, with a stable unemployment rate of 1.7 percent in the second quarter of this year.
Statistics from the Human Resources Office (GRH) indicated that there was a 28.1 percent increase in the number of non-resident workers in June compared to the same month in 2013 and 14,545 more compared to the figure at end of January this year.
Among the non-resident workers, more than half of them (99,781) were from mainland. This is followed by the Philippines (20,141), Vietnam (12,780) and Hong Kong (8,612).
The industry that was the most popular for non-resident workers were the hotels, restaurants and other businesses of similar activities, which have employed 40,302 non-resident workers. The construction industry is the most popular for workers from mainland China.
When compared to the figure in 2013, the number of non-resident workers in the construction industry has increased the most among all industries, with the amount skyrocketing from 18,081 in June 2013 to 38,663 in last month, an increase of 113 percent.
The number of non-resident workers has been increasing since the year 2000 and reached the first peak (104,281) in September 2008. It then declined to 72,092 in May 2010 but has picked up again since then. It has grown even more rapidly since mid-2013.
According to the Statistics and Census Bureau (DSEC), the unemployment rate in the second quarter this year remained at a historical low of 1.7 percent.
The total labour force has increased to 390,100 and the labour force participation rate was at 73.4 percent.
The unemployment rate of local residents between April and June remained at 2.3 percent.
The employment in the construction sector rose by 7,000 to 50,900, around 13.3 percent of total employment, but the employment in gaming decreased by 5,500 to 80,100.
In the first quarter of this year, the total population of Macau reached 614,500.  JPL