Retail workers’ wages increased 6% in Q2, Transport & Communication up 5%

A Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) survey has found that at the end of June, the average earnings of full-time employees in the retail trade sector had risen by 5.9% year-on-year to MOP14,810.

The DSEC explained that this increase is mainly due to the low base of comparison caused by a relatively large number of employees being placed on unpaid leave during the pandemic last year.

Concurrently, the average earnings of full-time employees in transport, storage and communications was up by 5.2% year-on-year to MOP21,250.

Conversely, average earnings of employees in security activities and public sewage and refuse disposal dropped by 2.7% year-on-year to MOP12,410 and 2.3% year-on-year to MOP19,170 respectively.

The survey analyzed the manpower needs and wages for the second quarter (Q2) of 2023.

At the end of Q2 of 2023, the number of persons engaged in wholesale and retail trade increased 3.2% year-on-year to 63,934. Among them, 40,404 were working in retail trade, up by 1.6%.

In the transport, storage and communications sector, there were more than 3.4% of people working, amounting to a total of 14,391, while the security activities sector had 12,794 persons engaged, down by 2.3% year-on-year.

The same percentage decrease was reported in the public sewage and refuse disposal activities sector at the end of June, which employed some 945 persons.

In the same quarter, job vacancies in retail trade (2,538), security activities (1,251), and the transport, storage and communications sector (785) increased respectively by 1,157, 67, and 301.

98.3% of the vacancies in security activities required only junior secondary education or lower. Conversely, 36.7% of vacancies in the wholesale trade sector and 20% of those in the transport, storage and communications sector required tertiary education.

The DSEC survey also noted that 38.5% of job posts available required candidates to possess English language skills.