Macau gaming employment declines further in 2021

This was the second consecutive year of declining employment, amid the impacts of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, after industry employment reached a peak of 58,225 in 2019.

Of these 54,839 employees, 24,406 were classed as dealers, down by 758. Meanwhile, the number of service and sales staff fell by 410 to 4,899.

As of the end of the year, the average salary for full-time gaming employees in Macau was MOP23,700 (£2,251/€2,718/$2,951) per month, which was 1.1% more than in 2020. However, this was still less than the MOP23,640 recorded in 2019.

There were only 58 job vacancies recorded across the industry as of the end of 2021, but this was more than double the 26 recorded the year before.

During the fourth quarter, there were 128 new employees in the sector, while 521 employees left the industry.

“The demand for human resources in the industry remains at a low level,” the Macau Statistics and Census Service said.

Gaming industry employees spent a total of 309,803 person-hours on training courses during Q4.

Last week, Macau authorities reported that the special administrative region’s gross domestic product (GDP) came to MOP239.4bn in 2021, a rise from 2020 but significantly less than pre-pandemic levels.

In 2021, operators in Macau brought in revenue of MOP83.86bn. While this was up 43.7% from 2020, it was still down 72.4% from 2019.