Results of Survey on Manpower Needs and Wages for the 4th Quarter 2008 Gaming Industry

The Statistics and Census Service released the results of the Survey on Manpower Needs and Wages of the Gaming Industry for the fourth quarter of 2008. Survey coverage excluded junket promoters and junket associates. At the end of the fourth quarter of 2008, there were 43,835 paid employees engaged in the Gaming Industry, down by 2.0% year-on-year. Analyzed by occupations that are directly related to betting services, 18,196 were dealers, down by 6.5% year-on-year, while 11,874 were engaged in positions such as hard and soft count clerks, cage cashiers, pit bosses, casino floorpersons, betting service operators, etc., up by 7.7% year-on-year. Meanwhile, 5,059 were working as casino and slot machine attendants/hosts, security and surveillance workers, etc., down by 5.3% from a year earlier. In December 2008, average earnings (excluding bonuses and allowances) for full-time employees in the Gaming Industry rose by 4.9% year-on-year to MOP 15,626. Average earnings for dealers grew by 6.0% over December 2007 to MOP 13,947, and that for employees in positions such as hard and soft count clerks, cage cashiers, pit bosses, casino floorpersons, betting service operators, etc. stood at MOP 19,520, up by 6.6%. The average earnings for casino and slot machine attendants/hosts, security and surveillance workers, etc. reported a year-on-year increase of 6.0% to MOP 9,604. At the end of December 2008, the Gaming Industry reported 258 vacant posts, a substantial decrease of 3,153 or -92.4% from a year earlier. Of these vacancies, 28 were for dealers, 59 for hard and soft count clerks, cage cashiers, pit bosses, casino floorpersons, betting service operators, etc., and 41 for services and sales workers, including casino and slot machine attendants/hosts, security and surveillance workers, etc.. In terms of recruitment prerequisites, 55.0% of the vacancies required no working experience; 79.4% required senior secondary education or higher. Besides Cantonese, other preferred language skills were Mandarin (66.3%) and English (67.4%).