Results of the Survey on Manpower Needs and Wages for the 4th Quarter 2007

The Statistics and Census Service released the results of the Survey on Manpower Needs and Wages for the fourth quarter of 2007. The survey coverage includes Wholesale & retail trade; Transport, storage & communications; Security activities; and Public sewage & refuse disposal activities, but excludes the own-account workers engaging in these industries. The survey results were extrapolated from the data obtained from 990 statistical units successfully interviewed, given as follows: At the end of the fourth quarter of 2007, a total of 24,079 paid employees were working in Wholesale & retail trade, up by 13.2% over the same period of 2006, with 13,503 engaging in Retail trade. The average earnings (excluding bonuses and allowances) for full-time employees in December 2007 was MOP 8,045, representing a year-on-year increase of 10.5%. Sales representatives and Salespersons earned MOP 9,852 and MOP 6,965 respectively in average. Transport, storage & communications took on 7,346 paid employees, which rose by 3.4% compared with the fourth quarter of 2006. In December 2007, the average earnings for full-time employees in this sector increased by 8.3% year-on-year to MOP 14,186. The average earnings for Passenger vehicle/truck drivers in Land transport was MOP 13,126. Security activities had 3,704 paid employees, up by 5.6% year-on-year. The average earnings for full-time employees in December 2007 was MOP 6,362, up by 12.4% year-on-year, with Security guards earning MOP 5,966 in average. There were 620 paid employees working in Public sewage & refuse disposal activities, up by 8.4% compared with the fourth quarter of 2006; the average earnings for full-time employees in December 2007 increased by 4.7% year-on-year to MOP 10,975. At the end of December 2007, Wholesale & retail trade reported to have 4,078 vacancies, of which 2,333 were in Retail trade. Meanwhile, Transport, storage & communications and Security activities had 1,142 and 707 vacancies respectively. In terms of recruitment prerequisites, 55.3% of the vacancies in Wholesale & retail trade and 36.0% in Transport, storage & communications required working experience; 61.0% and 27.4% of the vacancies in the above-mentioned industries required junior secondary or lower in educational attainment, while 87.6% of those in Security activities required primary education only; moreover, 48.5% of the vacancies in Wholesale & retail trade required, besides Cantonese, knowledge of Mandarin.