The Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) released survey results of Manpower Needs and Wages for the fourth quarter of 2013. Survey coverage comprised the Gaming Sector, Wholesale & Retail Trade; Transport, Storage & Communications; Security Activities and Public Sewage & Refuse Disposal Activities, excluding own-account workers, junket promoters and junket associates. At the end of the fourth quarter of 2013, the Gaming Sector had 56,608 persons engaged, up by 3.2% year-on-year, among which 25,250 were dealers. Average earnings (excluding bonuses and allowances) at the end of December 2013 stood at MOP19,120, up by 6.0% year-on-year with dealers earning MOP16,710 in average. Wholesale & Retail Trade had 45,819 persons engaged, up by 18.2% year-on-year, with 29,015 working in Retail trade. In December, average earnings of full-time employees rose by 7.8% year-on-year to MOP11,730, with Sales representatives and Salespersons earning MOP13,430 and MOP11,290 respectively in average. Transport, Storage & Communications had 9,225 persons engaged, up by 5.9% year-on-year. In December, average earnings of full-time employees increased by 6.1% year-on-year to MOP18,210. Drivers of passenger/cargo transport by land earned an average of MOP21,100. Security Activities had 5,827 persons engaged, up by 12.9% year-on-year. The average earnings of full-time employees in December rose by 6.1% year-on-year to MOP9,530, with Security guards earning MOP9,140 in average. Public Sewage & Refuse Disposal Activities had 736 persons engaged, up by 1.4% year-on-year. The average earnings of full-time employees in December increased by 14.2% year-on-year to MOP14,530. At the end of the fourth quarter of 2013, the Gaming Sector had 1,966 vacancies, down by 158 year-on-year, Retail Trade reported 2,703 vacancies, down by 374, while vacancies in Transport, Storage & Communications rose by 208, to 885 posts. In terms of recruitment prerequisites, 84.6% in Public Sewage & Refuse Disposal Activities and 59.1% in the Gaming Sector required working experience, 94.3% of the vacancies in Security Activities and 61.8% in the Gaming Sector required junior secondary education or lower. Furthermore, 82.8% and 70.4% of the vacancies in the Gaming Sector required knowledge of Mandarin and English respectively, while in Retail Trade 80.1% and 65.2% of the vacancies required knowledge of Mandarin and English respectively. In the fourth quarter of 2013, a total of 3,503 new employees were hired in the Gaming Sector and the employee recruitment rate (6.3%) increased by 1.0 percentage point year-on-year. The job vacancy rate (3.4%) fell by 0.4 percentage points, indicating that some of the vacancies were already filled. Despite the vacancy rates in Retail Trade and in Security Activities decreased by 3.2 and 0.7 percentage points year-on-year, both still remained high at 10.2% and 15.1% respectively, indicating that many of the vacancies were unoccupied still.
