Wages of Construction Workers and Prices of Construction Materials for 2nd Quarter 2012

Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the average daily wage of the construction workers decreased by 1.9% quarter-to-quarter to MOP552 in the second quarter of 2012, of which the average daily wages of electricians & electrical workers (MOP546), bricklayers & plasterers (MOP508) and unskilled workers (MOP352) decreased by 3.4%, 3.3% and 5.5% respectively. On the contrary, average daily wage of carpenters (MOP643) increased by 13.1% quarter-to-quarter, attributable to rising demand for carpenters in some tourism and gaming facilities and hotel projects. Furthermore, the average daily wage of local construction workers amounted to MOP674 in the second quarter of 2012, up by 4.3% quarter-to-quarter. After discounting the effect of inflation, wage index of the construction workers was 87.0 in real terms, down by 2.7% quarter-to-quarter; wage index of local construction workers increased by 0.5% to 99.5 in real terms. As regards construction materials, in the second quarter of 2012, the average price of concrete (MOP427 per cubic metre) decreased by 2.8% quarter-to-quarter, and the first drop in the past six quarters; that of spiral & round reinforcing steel bars (MOP5,959 per tonne) also fall by 1.3%. The price index of construction materials for residential buildings was 120.8, similar to the previous quarter.