The Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) released results of the Survey on Manpower Needs and Wages for the first quarter of 2009. Survey coverage comprised Manufacturing; Hotels & Restaurants; Financial; and Electricity, Gas & Water Supply sectors, but excluded own-account workers, as well as insurance agents and brokers not directly employed by insurance companies. Survey results were extrapolated according to the information collected from 566 statistical units successfully interviewed. Average earnings (excluding bonuses and allowances) of full-time employees engaging in these four sectors registered year-on-year increases; however, number of vacancies saw substantial decrease from a year earlier. At the end of the first quarter of 2009, Manufacturing sector had 19,678 paid employees, down significantly by 23.9% year-on-year, with 11,928 working in Manufacture of Wearing Apparel. Average earnings of full-time employees in March 2009 amounted to MOP5,200, up slightly by 1.1% year-on-year, with sewing machine operators earning MOP3,000 in average. Hotels & Restaurants sector took on 46,334 paid employees, down by 3.1% over the first quarter of 2008, with 29,608 working in hotels. Average earnings of full-time employees for the sector in March stood at MOP9,840, up by 3.1% year-on-year, of which earnings of hotel employees increased by 4.3% year-on-year to MOP11,460, with Housekeeping staff earning an average of MOP5,760. Financial sector had 5,549 paid employees, up by 3.0% year-on-year, with 4,731 working in banks. Average earnings of full-time employees in March rose by 1.9% year-on-year to MOP17,560 and that of Bank tellers was MOP10,130. Electricity, Gas & Water Supply sector had 1,053 paid employees, down by 2.0% year-on-year. Average earnings of full-time employees in March went up by 8.2% year-on-year to MOP21,950. At the end of March 2009, Manufacturing sector reported 1,060 vacancies (-75.0%); Hotels & Restaurants had 2,527 (-49.8%); Financial sector had 102 (-70.0%) and Electricity, Gas & Water Supply had 18 (-45.5%). In terms of recruitment prerequisites, 63.7% of the vacant posts in the Financial sector required working experience, 98.1% and 88.9% of the vacancies in the Financial sector and the Electricity, Gas & Water Supply sector required senior secondary education or higher. Besides Cantonese, Mandarin (50.3%) and English (37.1%) were the more preferable language skills for the vacancies in the Hotels & Restaurants sector, while 86.3% of those in the Financial sector required knowledge of English.
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