Wages of Construction Workers and Prices of Construction Materials for the 2nd Quarter 2009

Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the average daily wage of construction workers was MOP547 in the second quarter of 2009, up slightly by 0.9% quarter-to-quarter. The average daily wage of skilled & semi-skilled workers (MOP580) rose by 4.1%, of which welders (MOP706), scaffolders (MOP665) and concrete formwork carpenters (MOP604) were earning higher average wages; meanwhile, the average daily wage of unskilled workers (MOP353) registered an increase of 2.6%. After discounting the effect of inflation, the wage index of construction workers for the second quarter of 2009 was 98.5 in real terms, up by 1.8% over the previous quarter. As regards construction materials, the average price of spiral and round reinforcing steel bars continued its downward trend from the last quarter, falling by 19.6% quarter-to-quarter to MOP4,122 per tonne, and that of cement declined slightly by 0.2% to MOP650 per tonne; however, the average price of concrete registered an increase of 1.6%, at MOP322 per cubic metre. In the second quarter of 2009, the price index of construction materials for residential buildings dropped further by 4.6% quarter-to-quarter to 121.3, of which the price indices of steel and concrete pipe piles decreased by 19.6% and 3.6% respectively, while the price indices of electric wires and aluminium went up by 11.0% and 1.6%. Compared with the same quarter of 2008, the price index registered a decrease of 20.5%.