Number of gaming employees in Macau down 2 % in fourth quarter 2008

The survey was conducted by the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) government.

Analyzed by occupations that are directly related to betting services, the survey results showed that 18,196 of the total were casino dealers, down by 6.5 % year-on-year, while 11,874 were engaged in positions such as hard and soft count clerks, cage cashiers, pit bosses, casino floorpersons, betting service operators, etc., up by 7.7 % year-on-year. Another 5,059 were working as casino and slot machine attendants/hosts, security and surveillance workers, etc., down by 5.3 % from a year earlier.

As for job vacancies in the period, local gaming industry reported 258 vacant posts, a substantial decrease of 3,153 or 92.4 % from a year earlier, according to the DSEC survey results. Meanwhile, average earnings, excluding bonuses and allowances, for full-time employees in the gaming industry rose by 4.9 % year-on-year to us$ 1,978.

Average earnings for dealers, the posts of which the SAR government restricts to locals only, grew by six percent over December 2007 to us$ 1,765, and that for employees in positions such as hard and soft count clerks, cage cashiers, pit bosses, casino floorpersons, betting service operators, etc. stood at us$ 2,471, up by 6.6 %.

The average earnings for casino and slot machine attendants/ hosts, security and surveillance workers, etc. reported a year-on- year increase of six percent to us$ 1,216.