Wages of Construction Workers and Prices of Construction Materials for the 3rd Quarter 2013

Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the average daily wage of construction workers increased by 4.1% quarter-to-quarter to MOP628 in the third quarter of 2013, and the average daily wage of local construction workers amounted to MOP776, up by 5.1%. The average daily wage of skilled & semi-skilled workers was MOP635, an increase of 3.4% quarter-to-quarter, and that of unskilled workers was MOP375, down by 1.1%. Analysed by occupation, average daily wage of painters and concrete formwork carpenters was MOP588 and MOP644 respectively, up by 10.3% and 8.1% quarter-to-quarter; however, average daily wage of structural iron erectors decreased by 3.6% to MOP697. After discounting the effect of inflation, wage index of construction workers (89.9) increased by 2.7% quarter-to-quarter in real terms, on account of rising wage indices of carpenters (+16.2%) and concrete formwork carpenters (+6.5%). Meanwhile, wage index of local construction workers (107.6) increased by 4.2% quarter-to-quarter in real terms. As regards construction materials, average price of concrete increased by 13.8% quarter-to-quarter to MOP586 per cubic metre, due to the increasing demand for concrete in construction projects in Cotai; on the contrary, average price of spiral & round reinforcing steel bars decreased by 5.2%, at MOP4,984 per tonne. The price index of construction materials for residential buildings stood at 123.6 in the third quarter of 2013, up by 2.1% quarter-to-quarter, of which that of concrete (192.0) rose by 15.4%.