The Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) released results of the Survey on Manpower Needs and Wages for the third quarter of 2013. Survey coverage comprises Manufacturing; Hotels & Restaurants; Insurance; Financial Intermediation Activities; Electricity, Gas & Water Supply; Child-care and Elderly Care. This survey excludes the self-employed, as well as insurance agents and brokers not directly employed by insurance companies. At the end of the third quarter of 2013, Manufacturing had 10,779 persons engaged, down by 4.6% year-on-year, of which those working in Manufacture of Food Products (3,627) increased by 454 while those in Manufacture of Wearing Apparel (2,834) decreased by 926. Average earnings (excluding bonuses and allowances) of full-time employees in September rose by 9.8% year-on-year to MOP8,510; sewing machine operators earned an average of MOP4,100. Hotels & Restaurants had 70,928 persons engaged, up by 4.1% year-on-year, with those working in Hotels increasing by 1.7% year-on-year to 45,360. Average earnings of full-time employees in September rose by 6.4% year-on-year to MOP12,240, with waiters/waitresses of Hotels earning MOP8,710 and Housekeeping staff earning MOP7,910; waiters/waitresses of Restaurants earned an average of MOP6,820. Electricity, Gas & Water Supply had 1,104 persons engaged, up by 1.2% year-on-year. Average earnings of full-time employees in September increased by 5.1% year-on-year to MOP25,790. Insurance had 482 persons engaged, up by 5.2% year-on-year. Average earnings of full-time employees in September rose by 5.2% year-on-year to MOP21,760. Financial Intermediation Activities had 396 persons engaged, down by 5.9% year-on-year. Average earnings of full-time employees in September increased by 6.5% year-on-year to MOP13,350. Child-care and Elderly Care had 894 and 643 persons engaged respectively. Average earnings of full-time employees in September amounted to MOP10,700 and MOP10,590 respectively. At the end of the third quarter of 2013, vacancies in Restaurants increased by 369 year-on-year, while those in Hotels and Manufacturing decreased by 467 and 316 respectively. In terms of recruitment prerequisites, all vacant posts in Insurance required working experience. As regards educational attainment, 73.3% of the vacancies in Restaurants required junior secondary education or lower, while 90.0% of those in Insurance required tertiary education. Besides Cantonese, all vacant posts in Insurance and Financial Intermediation Activities required knowledge of Mandarin, while 90.0% of those in Insurance required English. Meanwhile, 79.3% and 63.0% of the vacancies in Hotels required knowledge of Mandarin and English respectively. In the third quarter of 2013, Restaurants had the highest vacancy rate (10.6%), while the employee turnover rate (7.0%) edged up by 0.2 percentage points year-on-year; the vacancy rate in Manufacturing reached 9.3% and the employee turnover rate rose notably by 8.5 percentage points to 16.1%, indicating that most of the vacancies are not filled and that the turnover of employee has not improved in these industries.
