The Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) released results of the Survey on Manpower Needs and Wages for the second quarter of 2023. Survey coverage comprises Wholesale & Retail Trade; Transport, Storage & Communications; Security Activities and Public Sewage & Refuse Disposal Activities; however, the self-employed are excluded.

At the end of the second quarter of 2023, number of persons engaged in Wholesale & Retail Trade increased by 3.2% year-on-year to 63,934. Among them, 40,404 were working in Retail Trade, up by 1.6%. In June 2023, average earnings (excluding irregular remuneration) of full-time employees rose by 5.9% year-on-year to MOP14,810, mainly due to the low base of comparison caused by a relatively large number of employees being placed on unpaid leave amid the pandemic last year.

The Transport, Storage & Communications sector had 14,391 persons engaged, an increase of 3.4% year-on-year. Average earnings of full-time employees rose by 5.2% year-on-year to MOP21,250 in June.

Security Activities had 12,794 persons engaged, down by 2.3% year-on-year. Average earnings of full-time employees in June dropped by 2.7% year-on-year to MOP12,410.

Public Sewage & Refuse Disposal Activities had 945 persons engaged, a decrease of 2.3% year-on-year. Average earnings of full-time employees in June dropped by 2.3% year-on-year to MOP19,170.

Job vacancies in Retail Trade (2,538), Security Activities (1,251) and the Transport, Storage & Communications sector (785) increased by 1,157, 67 and 301 respectively year-on-year.

In terms of recruitment prerequisites, 98.3% of the vacancies in Security Activities required only junior secondary education or lower; on the other hand, 36.7% of the vacancies in Wholesale Trade and 20.0% of those in the Transport, Storage & Communications sector required tertiary education. As regards language skills, 69.5% and 38.5% of the vacancies in Retail Trade required knowledge of Mandarin and English respectively, while the corresponding proportions for Security Activities were 95.2% and 33.3%.

The employee recruitment rate (6.0%) and the job vacancy rate (7.2%) in Retail Trade went up by 1.8 and 3.1 percentage points respectively year-on-year. As for the Transport, Storage & Communications sector, the employee recruitment rate (6.3%) and the job vacancy rate (5.8%) showed respective increases of 2.4 and 2.0 percentage points year-on-year. The figures indicated that there were still many vacant posts to be filled in these two sectors.