Jury still out on Macau labor recovery [Infographic]

It’s still unknown whether Macau’s gaming sector is on the path to recovery, with conflicting reports over the last month signaling both good and bad news over the medium term.

This week’s infographic aims at giving a snapshot of Macau’s gaming labor market over the past 12 months. The lack of visitors to Macau and month-to-month fall in GGR as a result of border restrictions have undoubtedly affected employees in Macau’s gaming industry.

Median wages in the gaming sector took the most obvious hit during the year, with the worst being in the second quarter of 2020. Though, some recovery has been seen in Q3.

On the other hand, the total number of workers in Macau’s gaming sector took its largest tumble in the second and third quarter of 2020. It is currently unclear whether the fourth quarter will see any improvement on this front.

Looking at the overall employment and unemployment rate in the last 12 months, it is interesting to see that the overall labor participation rate is around the same as where it was last year. However, the unemployment rate has continued to rise.