Wages of Construction Workers and Prices of Construction Materials for the 1st Quarter 2009

Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the average daily wage of construction workers was MOP542 in the first quarter of 2009, up by 3.0% quarter-to-quarter. The average daily wage of skilled & semi-skilled workers rose by 1.5% to MOP557, of which structural iron erectors (MOP707), plant operators (MOP667) and concrete formwork carpenters (MOP643) were earning higher average wages; meanwhile, the average daily wage of unskilled workers (MOP344) registered a decrease of 3.9%. After discounting the effect of inflation, the wage index of construction workers for the first quarter of 2009 was 96.8 in real terms, up slightly by 1.0% 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 sharply by 15.9% quarter-to-quarter to MOP5,127 per tonne, and that of concrete declined slightly by 0.6% to MOP317 per cubic metre; however, the average price of cement registered an increase of 4.2%, at MOP651 per tonne. In the first quarter of 2009, the price index of construction materials for residential buildings dropped further by 8.9% quarter-to-quarter to 127.2. Compared with the same quarter of 2008, the price index registered a decrease of 10.8%, owing to a 20.1% and 29.8% plunge in the price indices of steel and electric wires; besides, the price indices of aluminium and concrete went down by 12.4% and 3.6% respectively.