The Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) released survey results of Manpower Needs and Wages of the Gaming Sector for the second quarter of 2020. Survey coverage excludes junket promoters and junket associates.

At the end of the second quarter of 2020, number of full-time employees in the Gaming Sector decreased by 381 year-on-year to 57,459; among them, dealers totalled 25,344, up by 131 year-on-year but down by 115 from the end of the fourth quarter of 2019.

In June 2020, average earnings (excluding bonuses) of full-time employees in the Gaming Sector were MOP23,200, down by 5.5% year-on-year. Average earnings of dealers decreased by 7.6% to MOP19,270.

Owing to the impact of novel coronavirus pneumonia, there were only 25 vacancies at the end of the second quarter of 2020, down significantly by 879 year-on-year.

In terms of recruitment prerequisites, 68.0% of the vacancies required work experience, 76.0% required tertiary education, and requirement for knowledge of Mandarin and English both stood at 88.0%.

In the second quarter of 2020, only 129 new employees were hired, a notable decrease of 93.4% from 1,942 in the same quarter of 2019. The employee recruitment rate (0.2%) and the employee turnover rate (0.6%) went down by 3.2 and 1.7 percentage points respectively, while the job vacancy rate fell to near zero. These indicators reflect a substantial decline in demand for manpower in the Gaming Sector.

As regards vocational training, the Gaming Sector had 299,921 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), representing a year-on-year surge of 180.4%. Most of the participants attended Business & Administration courses (45.8%), followed by Gaming & Entertainment Services courses (23.4%). The majority of the courses were organised by the gaming enterprises, and the number of participants accounted for 99.9% of the total.