The Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) released survey results of Manpower Needs and Wages of the Gaming Sector for the fourth quarter of 2016. Survey coverage excludes junket promoters and junket associates.

At the end of the fourth quarter of 2016, the Gaming Sector had 55,794 full-time employees, down by 0.8% year-on-year, of which the number of dealers dropped by 2.4% to 24,039

In December 2016, average earnings (excluding bonuses) of full-time employees in the Gaming Sector stood at MOP21,990, up by 1.7% year-on-year. Average earnings of dealers increased by 0.3%, at MOP18,840.

Job vacancies totalled 555 at the end of the fourth quarter of 2016, up by 93 year-on-year. Most of the vacancies were for clerks and service & sales workers.

In terms of recruitment prerequisites, 30.3% of the vacancies required work experience; 85.2% required senior secondary education or lower; requirement for knowledge of Mandarin and English accounted for 94.8% and 43.6% respectively.

In the fourth quarter of 2016, a total of 662 new employees were hired, a substantial increase of 76.1% from 376 in the same quarter of 2015. Furthermore, the employee recruitment rate (1.2%) and the job vacancy rate (1.0%) went up slightly by 0.5 and 0.2 percentage points year-on-year respectively, while the employee turnover rate (1.4%) fell slightly by 0.4 percentage points. These indicators suggested that the human resource situation of the Gaming Sector was relatively stable in this quarter.

As regards vocational training, the Gaming sector had 52,025 participants attending training courses provided by the enterprise (including courses organised by the enterprise or in conjunction with other institutions, and those sponsored by the enterprise), up by 50.7% year-on-year. Most participants attended courses in Business & Administration (35.7%), followed by Gaming & Entertainment Services (28.3%). The majority of courses were organised by the gaming enterprises, and the number of participants accounted for 99.8% of the total.