Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the average daily wage of construction workers increased by 1.3% quarter-to-quarter to MOP799 in the fourth quarter of 2021. The average daily wages of local workers (MOP987) and non-resident workers (MOP718) went up by 1.3% and 2.7% respectively.
In terms of main occupation, the average daily wages of aluminium/glass installers (MOP805), air-conditioning mechanics (MOP868) and electricians & electrical workers (MOP841) rose by 10.4%, 5.6% and 1.4% respectively quarter-to-quarter; meanwhile, the wages of concrete formwork carpenters (MOP819), carpenters (MOP752) and painters (MOP804) fell by 3.3%, 1.5% and 0.8% respectively.
After discounting the effect of inflation, the wage index of construction workers (98.9) in the fourth quarter of 2021 went up by 2.2% quarter-to-quarter in real terms, with that of local construction workers (98.1) increasing by 3.9%. For the whole year of 2021, the average wage index of construction workers (95.4) rose by 5.1% year-on-year in real terms, and that of local construction workers (93.8) grew by 2.4%.
As regards construction materials, the average price of concrete (MOP1,068 per cubic metre) in the fourth quarter of 2021 increased by 0.7% quarter-to-quarter, while that of spiral & round reinforcing steel bars (MOP6,484 per tonne) decreased by 1.9%. The price index of construction materials for residential buildings inched up by 0.1% quarter-to-quarter to 122.5; the price indices of sand and aggregate grew by 10.6% and 7.4% respectively, whereas the price index of steel dropped by 2.7%. For the whole year of 2021, the average price index of construction materials for residential buildings (119.9) went up by 7.6% year-on-year.