The Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) released results of the Survey on Manpower Needs and Wages for the second quarter of 2012. Survey coverage comprised Wholesale & Retail Trade; Transport, Storage & Communications sector; Security Activities and Public Sewage & Refuse Disposal Activities, excluding own-account workers. At the end of the second quarter of 2012, Wholesale & Retail Trade had 35,551 paid employees, up by 12.0% year-on-year, with 22,685 working in Retail trade. In June 2012, average earnings (excluding bonuses and allowances) of full-time employees rose by 4.9% year-on-year to MOP10,410, with Sales representatives and Salespersons earning MOP14,180 and MOP9,520 respectively in average. The Transport, Storage & Communications sector took on 8,291 paid employees, up by 9.1% year-on-year. In June, average earnings of full-time employees increased by 5.9% year-on-year to MOP16,450. Drivers of passenger/cargo transport by land earned an average of MOP17,800. Security Activities had 5,004 paid employees, up by 5.6% year-on-year. The average earnings of full-time employees in June rose by 9.7% year-on-year to MOP8,380, with Security guards earning MOP7,980 in average. Public Sewage & Refuse Disposal Activities had 698 paid employees, up by 5.0% year-on-year. The average earnings of full-time employees in June increased by 8.9% year-on-year to MOP12,120. At the end of the second quarter of 2012, Wholesale & Retail Trade reported 4,826 vacancies, up substantially by 40.5% year-on-year, of which 3,485 were in Retail trade, up significantly by 52.2%. The vacancy rate of Retail trade had shown a continual growth reaching 15.6% this quarter, while the employee turnover rate has rebounded to a higher level of 9.0%, signifying a continual high demand of human resources. Vacancies in Security Activities (792) rose by 15.6%, while those in the Transport, Storage & Communications sector dropped by 17.5%. In terms of recruitment prerequisites, 60.7% of the vacant posts in Public Sewage & Refuse Disposal Activities and 51.2% of those in Wholesale & Retail Trade required work experience. As regards educational attainment, 64.3% of the vacancies in Public Sewage & Refuse Disposal Activities and 51.2% of those in the Transport, Storage & Communications sector required senior secondary education or higher; meanwhile, 63.3% of the vacancies in Security Activities required primary education only. Besides Cantonese, knowledge of Mandarin and English was respectively required in 69.0% and 45.6% of the vacancies in Wholesale & Retail Trade, while 46.1% of those in the Transport, Storage & Communications sector and 42.9% of those in Public Sewage & Refuse Disposal Activities required knowledge of English.
