Employment Characteristics and Trends of

Tourism-related Industries

W. M. Cheong
Research and Statistics Department, Monetary Authority of Macao

Abstract

Tourism plays an increasingly important role in many economies, contributing to their

growth and job creation. In recent years, with the government promotion, regional
cooperation and the implementation of the Individual Traveller Scheme by the central
government, tourism has become the leading industry of the Macao economy. It has,
in particular, created many job opportunities in the labour market and become the
largest employer in the SAR. This paper attempts to draw on a number of
cosmopolitan characteristics and trends of employment in tourism and analyse their
relevance to Macao.

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 Employment Characteristics and Trends of Tourism-related Industries

1. Introduction

Mainly attributable to the rapid development of the tourism sector, Macao has
experienced notably strong economic growth since 2001. In terms of GDP per capita,
Macao surpassed Japan for the first time in 2008 with a value of USD39,036.1 As an
engine of growth, tourism has impacted almost all fractions of the Macao economy.

To assess the tourism sector’s economic impacts, the World Travel and Tourism
Council (WTTC) makes use of the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) to generate
country reports, presenting the contribution of tourism to gross domestic product
(GDP), foreign exchange earnings, employment and others. In particular, the WTTC
distinguishes the contribution of tourism to employment by two categories - “travel
and tourism industry” (T&T industry) and “travel and tourism economy” (T&T
economy).

Table 1 shows the employment contribution of tourism in Asia and the Pacific area in
the years 2000 and 2008. Among selected economies, Macao showed strong
dependence in employment on tourism, which directly accounted for 37.6% of total
employment in both years. Regarding T&T economy, the proportion rose from
55.5% in 2000 to 70.7% in 2008. Aside from Macao, the top three economies in the
region with the highest proportion of direct employment were Fiji, New Zealand and
Australia, while taking direct and indirect impacts together, Fiji, Hong Kong and
Cambodia showed the highest reliance on tourism in employment.

This paper focuses on the contribution of tourism to employment. We intend to

identify the features of employment in tourism-related industries (TRIs) and analyse
their relevance to Macao. The next section reviews pertinent literature and
international surveys. Based on the framework established in Section 2, Section 3
analyses the characteristics and development of TRIs employment in Macao from five
key perspectives, including accessibility, flexibility, remuneration and working
condition, mobility and enterprise size. Concluding remarks are drawn in the last
section.

1
Japan’s GDP per capita was USD38,210 according to the World Development Indicators Database,
World Bank, 1 July 2009. Qatar was reported to have the highest GDP per capita in Asia though the
data was not available in the World Bank publication.
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 Employment Characteristics and Trends of Tourism-related Industries

Table 1: Percentage Share of Travel and Tourism Jobs in Total Employment

Asia and the Pacific, 2000 and 2008

Travel & tourism Travel & tourism

industry1 economy2
Variation Variation
2000 2008 (ppt.) 2000 2008 (ppt.)
Australia 6.0 4.7 -1.3 13.0 11.0 -2.0
Bangladesh 1.1 1.3 0.2 2.8 3.2 0.4
Brunei 2.9 3.1 0.2 12.2 13.8 1.6
Cambodia 4.9 6.5 1.6 11.4 14.6 3.2
China 2.3 2.4 0.1 7.5 8.1 0.6
Fiji 9.3 9.3 0.0 23.4 24.7 1.3
Hong Kong, China 3.7 6.0 2.3 11.3 16.0 4.7
India 2.5 2.7 0.2 5.5 6.5 1.0
Indonesia 2.9 2.0 -0.9 7.8 6.5 -1.3
Islamic Republic of
2.9 2.7 -0.2 6.8 7.9 1.1
Iran
Japan 4.2 4.0 -0.2 10.3 10.1 -0.2
Korea 2.4 2.1 -0.3 8.5 8.1 -0.4
Laos 3.9 3.3 -0.6 8.8 9.1 0.3
Macao, China 37.6 37.6 0.0 55.5 70.7 15.2
Malaysia 4.1 5.2 1.1 10.4 11.7 1.3
Myanmar 3.4 2.9 -0.5 6.5 6.1 -0.4
Nepal 2.9 2.0 -0.9 6.6 5.0 -1.6
New Zealand 7.2 5.6 -1.6 15.4 12.6 -2.8
Pakistan 1.8 1.7 -0.1 4.4 4.7 0.3
Philippines 3.8 4.0 0.2 11.2 10.5 -0.7
Singapore 3.5 2.1 -1.4 9.9 6.2 -3.7
Taiwan, China 1.6 1.3 -0.3 5.4 4.0 -1.4
Thailand 5.5 5.1 -0.4 11.3 11.3 0.0
Tonga 4.0 4.0 0.0 11.3 10.9 -0.4
Viet Nam 2.9 3.2 0.3 8.4 11.0 2.6
World average 2.8 2.8 0.0 7.8 7.9 0.1
Notes: 1. Direct jobs, all activities in direct contact with visitors;
2. Direct and indirect jobs, including suppliers to the industry, government agencies,
manufacturing and construction of capital goods and exported goods in the travel and tourism
sector and supplied commodities.
Source: WTTC Country Reports, 2000 and 2008.

2. Characteristics and Trends

As the importance of tourism in economic, social and cultural developments is widely

acknowledged, governments around the world have paid particular attention to the
measurement of the sector’s contribution, in particular, employment and its
characteristics and trends. Apart from the WTTC which provides country profiles of
the TSA, other international organisations have conducted cross-country studies of
tourism employment and generated statistical reports for deliberation.

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 Employment Characteristics and Trends of Tourism-related Industries

The United Nations Statistical Division (2007) recommends countries to collect

certain key variables in order to analyse the pattern of employment in tourism
industries, such as employment by age group, sex, type of establishment, educational
attainment and hours of work. The Eurostat (2008) discusses the contribution made by
the tourism industry to the labour market in the European Union (EU27) and studies
the pattern of employment in the “horeca” sector (hotels, restaurants and catering) and
tourist accommodation in particular. It is found that the sectors employ a large number
of female workers, workers with low education qualifications and young workers with
age under 35, and offer a high proportion of temporary jobs.

The International Labour Organisation has created a committee for the HCT sector2
(hotel, catering and tourism) which studies its employment, working conditions and
recent developments. Its report on Human Resources Development, Employment and
Globalisation in the Hotel, Catering and Tourism Sector (2001) analyses the
employment pattern in the fields of remuneration, staff turnover, working hours and
employment effects of recent forms of tourism. Subsequently, the International
Labour Organisation (2003) describes the employment features of tourism in Asia and
the Pacific as low and unattractive industry image, female employees as the majority,
high mobility, and shortages in skill. Enterprises in the sector are characterised as
small and medium-sized businesses.

Basically, the features of tourism employment can be underlined from five

perspectives:

2.1 Accessibility

The TRIs tend to accommodate workers with a wide variety of skills though the level
of skill is not necessarily high. Their job qualifications are more social than technical

2
The HCT sector includes:
a. hotels, boarding houses hotels, boarding houses, motels, tourist camps, holiday centres;
b. restaurants, bars, cafeterias, snack bars, pubs, night clubs, and other similar establishments;
c. establishments for the provision of meals and refreshments within the framework of industrial
and institutional catering (for hospitals, factory and office canteens, schools, aircraft, ships, etc.);
d. travel agencies and tourist guides, tourism information offices;
e. conference and exhibition centres.

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 Employment Characteristics and Trends of Tourism-related Industries

in the sense that the employees should know how to deal with people, and it is hard
for them to develop standardisation techniques. In addition, customers are witnessed
to get involved in the management of employees in the TRIs (Rodriguez and
Turegano 2003).

Riley et al. (2002) argue that industries that are expanding will have a good reputation
in the marketplace and hence can attract labour from other industries, especially the
declining ones. If combined with low entry barriers, expanding industries would
facilitate a higher degree of accessibility by workers. Simeral (1998) therefore
concludes that tourism with these characteristics is a powerhouse to generate
employment. It has been witnessed as a major provider for jobs in most Organisation
for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and developing countries.

2.2 Flexibility

The standard assumption of productivity analysis is expressed in terms of an

input-output model in which the level of inputs determines the level of outputs, which
then satisfies demand in the market. In the case of tourism, demand tends to be rather
volatile so that inputs for production such as labour would require a higher degree of
flexibility. Unlike other industries, tourism appears to be more sensitive to seasonal
and periodic variations in demand (Ball 1989). Koenig and Bischoff (2004) conclude
different categories of causes of tourism seasonality, including “natural”,
“institutionalised”, “sporting seasons”, “tradition”, “business customs” and “supply
side constraints”. It is also essential for the management to forecast accurately and
respond effectively to the uncertainty in demand (Riley et al. 2002).

On the other hand, part-time or flexible work could be suitable to women and students
(Mathieson and Wall 1982). As family caretakers, women are unavailable for
full-time jobs or can only be engaged in occupations with flexible working hours.
Seasonal jobs in tourism are also thought to attract people from the periphery of the
labour force. However, this creates a negative effect on job security, career prospects
and pay. The informality of labour relations is psychologically rooted in the imprecise
contracts that are implicit in tourism jobs (Baldacchino 1997). Average tenure,
defined as the average duration of the on-going employment relationships, is
relatively short in tourism.

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 Employment Characteristics and Trends of Tourism-related Industries

2.3 Remuneration and working condition

According to the International Labour Organisation (2003), the image of the tourism
sector, especially hospitality, is rather low and regarded as unattractive. Employment
in hotels and restaurants is regarded as low-pay, unsocial hours, shift work, working
over holiday periods, and sometimes as working away from home in remote resort.
Many workers in the sector are said to be physically isolated and work in unsocial
hours, separate from normal exposure to the general public. However, there are
non-material benefits like accommodation, tips, training, convenience in working
hours that attract or retain employees.

On the other hand, Lanza and Pigliaru (1999) state that economies specialised in
tourism are usually small and they tend to grow faster than others on average.
Countries specialised in tourism have experienced a per capita income growth of
about 5% per year during 1985-1994, while the average growth rate at the world level
was just 0.8%. Brau et al. (2007) compare the income level and the index of tourism
specialisation (i.e. the ratio of international tourist receipts to GDP) in 29 small
countries. They conclude that tourism is generally associated with higher-than-
average income especially in small and island countries. In other words, tourism
workers in small economies would benefit from a higher level of income.

2.4 Mobility

Riley et al. (2002) classify different types of mobility, including job mobility,
occupation mobility, inter-industry mobility and geographical mobility. In which,
geographical mobility also covers importation of foreign workers, both skilled and
unskilled.

Acquisition of job-specific and industry-specific skills would undermine the

probability of job mobility. Becker (1975) therefore argues that tourism workers,
generally equipped with relatively low and generalised skills, would be more readily
transferable.

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 Employment Characteristics and Trends of Tourism-related Industries

2.5 Enterprise size

The International Labour Organisation (2003) argues that the tourism sector consists
of a large portion of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). SMEs are more
flexible, closer to the customers and less capital-intensive.

Saayman and Slabbert (2001) study the opportunities and threats of tourism
entrepreneurs in South Africa. They illustrate certain business obstacles facing the
SMEs, namely (a) the problem in financing, not only the shortage of funds, but
including the lack of knowledge to approach financial institutions and access to
foreign funding; (b) tourism regarded as a risky industry by financial institutions; (c)
inexperienced entrepreneurs and lack of management skills and knowledge, and lastly
(d) lack of marketing skills.

3. Tourism Employment in Macao

Industries in Macao are classified according to the Classification of Economic

Activities of Macao – Revision 1 (1997).3 Considering the international practice and
data availability in Macao, the TRIs listed in Table 2 are examined in this paper.

As shown in Table 3, the proportion of TRIs to total employment climbed from 39.9%
in 2000 to over half in 2008 – a sharp increase of 11.3 percentage points in eight years.
Since 2003, after the gaming liberalisation and the implementation of the Individual
Traveller Scheme (ITS), the tourism industry has taken off while its share in
employed population has risen gradually. Among the TRIs, “gaming” and “hotel”
saw the largest gains. The former rose significantly by 13.9 percentage points, while
the latter increased by 2.0 percentage points. The TRIs are now the largest employer
in Macao.

3
The Classification of Economic Activities of Macao – Revision 1 (CAM Rev.1) is compiled based on
the International Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC Rev.3) of the United Nations.

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 Employment Characteristics and Trends of Tourism-related Industries

Table 2: TRIs in Macao under Study

Code Description
G Wholesale and retail trade
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles, motorcycles and automotive
52 fuel; repair of personal and household goods (Retail trade)
H Hotels, restaurants and similar activities
551 Hotels and similar activities (Hotel)
522 Restaurants, bars, canteens and similar activities (Catering)
I Transport, storage and communications (Transport)
O Other community, social and personal services
92491 Gaming
O except Other community, social and personal services, except gaming
92491 (Other services)
Source: Statistics and Census Service (DSEC).

Table 3: Shares of TRIs in Employed Population, 2000-2008

Industry 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Hotel 2.9 3.0 2.7 3.1 2.9 2.9 3.6 4.0 4.8
Catering 7.9 8.0 8.8 7.8 8.1 7.6 7.7 7.6 8.0
Retail trade 10.5 10.1 10.4 11.1 11.0 10.3 9.4 8.9 9.0
Transport 7.5 7.2 6.4 7.0 6.8 6.2 6.3 5.5 5.0
Gaming 6.7 7.1 6.9 7.5 10.5 13.0 16.1 19.5 20.6
Other services 4.3 3.8 4.6 4.1 3.8 4.2 3.7 3.5 3.8
Sub-total 39.9 39.3 39.8 40.7 43.1 44.2 46.9 49.0 51.2
Unit: Share in %.
Source: DSEC.

Based on the framework presented in the previous section, we analyse employment

characteristics in Macao’s TRIs from different perspectives and related indicators as
shown in Chart 1.

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 Employment Characteristics and Trends of Tourism-related Industries

Chart 1: Perspectives of TRIs Employment and Related Indicators

3.1 Accessibility

Accessibility can be represented by educational attainment, number of vacancies, age

groups and recruitment prerequisites.

As shown in Table 4, the majority of employees of the TRIs in Macao attain junior
secondary level of education, agreeable to the pattern of education attainment for the
whole employment population. During 2000-08 on average, the tourism sector
accommodated a larger proportion of employees with lower education attainment,
including primary (+2.2ppts), junior secondary (+1.8ppts) and senior secondary
(+1.8ppts), than all sectors. It would be due to its employment of a large number of
junior staff like waiters and housekeepers to keep the expanding daily operations.

The proportion of employees with tertiary education in the TRIs (9.8%) was 6.0
percentage points lower than that of the overall employment. However, the
proportion of employees in the TRIs with tertiary education rose from 7.3% in 2000 to
16.0% in 2008. The growth is 0.3 percentage points higher than the growth of
all-sector employment, indicating a rise in recruiting requirement.

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 Employment Characteristics and Trends of Tourism-related Industries

Table 4: Employed Population by Educational Attainment, 2000-2008

Educational
Attainment 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 average

Subtotal of TRI*
No schooling/
11.0 11.3 10.2 11.0 10.3 7.7 6.1 5.2 4.3 8.6
pre-primary
Primary 31.0 30.0 30.3 27.8 25.8 24.3 22.5 21.5 17.2 25.6
Junior secondary 34.1 33.4 33.0 33.3 32.8 33.1 34.5 33.7 32.5 33.4
Senior secondary 16.7 17.9 18.7 18.9 21.9 25.0 26.4 27.5 30.2 22.6
Tertiary 7.3 7.3 7.7 9.0 9.0 9.9 10.5 12.0 16.0 9.8
Overall
No schooling/
10.4 10.4 9.8 10.0 9.8 7.8 6.3 6.0 4.6 8.4
pre-primary
Primary 27.2 27.7 26.1 24.8 23.7 22.4 21.5 20.1 16.8 23.4
Junior secondary 33.1 32.5 32.8 31.9 30.9 31.6 31.5 30.3 30.1 31.6
Senior secondary 16.6 17.0 17.8 17.7 20.0 22.4 23.8 24.4 27.5 20.8
Tertiary 12.6 12.3 13.6 15.6 15.5 15.7 16.9 19.2 21.0 15.8
Unit: Proportion in %.
Note:*Including retail trade, hotel, catering, transport, gaming and other services.
Source: DSEC.

During the period under review, the top-three industries with the largest number of
vacancies were “manufacturing”, “gaming” and “catering” (Table 5). Under the
influence of the economic downturn amid the financial tsunami, the number of
vacancies of all industries dropped in 2008.

Table 5: Number of Vacancies by Industry, 2000-2008

Industry 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Manufacturing1 7,034 5,352 3,399 4,637 6,704 6,483 6,710 4,780 3,030
Electricity, gas &
3 14 10 8 8 37 12 28 22
water supply1
1
Hotel 421 289 251 233 411 596 1,539 2,966 1,954
Catering1 208 236 179 267 1,221 2,165 3,286 3,515 2,571
Financial
27 33 48 55 103 127 185 251 260
intermediation1
Retail trade 2 87 63 150 275 800 1,377 2,117 2,433 1,485
Transport2 230 191 157 216 608 556 791 1,172 612
Investigation &
826 1,071 963 481
security activities2,3
Public sewage &
3 14 10 23
refuse disposal2,3
2,4
Gaming 6,015 9,607 5,665 4,262 511
Notes:
1. Data released in first and third quarters on a regular basis; annual figures are averages of the two
quarters.
2. Data released in second and fourth quarters on a regular basis; annual figures are averages of the
two quarters.
3. Data available since the fourth quarter of 2005.
4. Data available since 2004.
Source: DSEC.

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 Employment Characteristics and Trends of Tourism-related Industries

The TRIs, except “gaming”, were on the upward trend in the years to 2007. “Retail
trade”, “catering”, “hotel” and “transport” all showed above-average increments in
vacancies from 2000 to 2007. Accompanying with the establishment of the
complexes of hotels, casinos and catering services, the sectors saw a significant
growth in job vacancies. The job opportunities, coupled with better remuneration
packages, attract labour from other industries, especially from the declining ones.

As shown in Table 6, most of the employees fell in the “35-44” age group in both the
TRIs and all industries. The TRIs employed a larger proportion of young workers
(aged 14-24) than all industries. Especially in “gaming” and “other services”, the
portion of young employees continued to grow during the observed years.

Table 6: Employed Population by Age Group, 2000-2008

Age Group 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Subtotal of
TRIs*
14-24 12.9 13.2 12.5 12.1 14.0 17.0 17.5 19.5 18.5
25-34 26.9 24.4 24.2 24.1 22.8 22.7 22.3 24.0 24.5
35-44 35.4 33.1 32.8 31.2 30.3 28.1 27.6 25.7 25.4
45-54 19.0 22.2 23.2 24.3 25.0 23.9 24.5 22.9 22.8
55-64 4.3 5.1 5.6 6.5 6.4 6.7 7.0 6.9 7.7
>=65 1.4 2.0 1.8 1.7 1.6 1.5 1.3 1.0 1.0
Overall
14-24 11.8 12.1 11.2 10.6 11.0 12.2 12.8 13.7 13.4
25-34 27.8 26.5 25.7 25.3 24.3 24.2 23.9 24.0 24.7
35-44 35.0 33.1 32.6 31.3 29.9 28.7 28.1 27.3 26.8
45-54 19.6 21.3 22.9 24.6 25.6 25.6 25.6 25.2 24.9
55-64 4.6 5.1 6.1 6.7 7.6 7.9 8.3 8.6 9.0
>=65 1.2 1.8 1.5 1.4 1.6 1.3 1.3 1.2 1.3
Unit: Proportion in %.
Note: *Including retail trade, hotel, catering, transport, gaming and other services.
Source: DSEC.

In terms of recruitment prerequisites, requirements of the TRIs for experience,

qualification and academic achievements seemed to be relatively low (Table 7).
“Transport, storage and communications” largely recruited staff with primary
education. For “wholesale and retail trade”, “gaming – services and sales workers”
and “hotels and restaurants”, mainly staff of junior secondary education were required.
For “gaming – clerks”, recruitment prerequisite for educational attainment was senior
secondary. In comparison, “public sewage and refuse disposal activities”,
“electricity, gas and water supply” and “financial intermediation” normally required

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 Employment Characteristics and Trends of Tourism-related Industries

staff with tertiary education. In TRIs, as staff needs to serve directly the customers,
physical appearance and language skills are essential requirements for recruitment.

Table 7: Percentage Distribution of Recruitment Prerequisites, 2004-2008

Electricity, gas & Financial Wholesale & retail

Prerequisites Manufacturing Hotels & restaurants
water supply Intermediation trade

Professional Experience
Yes 78.9 66.3 48.6 59.3 60.0
No 21.1 33.7 51.4 40.7 40.0
Professional Qualification
Yes 2.7 19.1 4.2 17.6 13.2
No 97.3 81.0 95.8 82.5 86.8
Academic Achievement
Primary 41.7 3.1 28.7 0.1 25.1
Junior Secondary 26.8 6.8 36.2 2.6 38.0
Senior Secondary 5.1 43.5 21.3 44.3 20.6
Tertiary 3.1 45.5 4.8 48.9 9.5
No preference 23.4 1.2 20.5 4.0 7.4
Language Skills
Mandarin 28.5 18.1 42.1 74.7 52.0
English 6.2 85.4 32.8 87.1 32.8
Transport, Public sewage &
Gaming - Services
Prerequisites Storage & Security activities refuse disposal Gaming - Clerks
and sales workers
Communications activities

Professional Experience
Yes 38.3 10.9 87.9 23.3 35.1
No 61.7 89.1 12.1 76.7 64.9
Professional Qualification
Yes 56.4 3.0 49.4 6.6 0.7
No 43.6 97.0 50.6 93.4 99.3
Academic Achievement
Primary 24.7 89.6 2.4 0.5 2.3
Junior Secondary 15.2 5.8 9.3 13.7 75.0
Senior Secondary 15.1 0.6 40.0 73.6 16.4
Tertiary 17.0 3.4 43.5 12.1 0.1
No preference 37.6 0.0 0.0 0.2 8.6
Language Skills
Mandarin 23.3 20.0 30.2 84.9 80.5
English 33.8 30.9 45.5 85.4 18.5
Source: DSEC.

3.2 Flexibility

The need for employment flexibility in the TRIs comes from the volatility of tourism
demand. In the case of Macao, the number of tourists appears to be quite stable
throughout the year. Seasonality seems minor, though long holidays in neighbouring
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 Employment Characteristics and Trends of Tourism-related Industries

regions like Lunar New Year, Christmas, Labour Day and other special events in
Macao such as Grand Prix would have some impact on visitor arrivals. As shown in
Chart 2, visitor arrivals were quite even for the four quarters though the second
quarter could be viewed as a “low” season. In addition, deliberate policy measures,
such as the ITS, were influential to arrivals.

On the other hand, the TRIs in Macao do exhibit employment flexibility with a
relatively high proportion of part-time workers. Table 8 shows the percentage of
part-time employees of different industries in Macao during 2000-08. The industries
with the highest proportion of part-time employees were “catering” and “retail trade”.
The third place had shifted from “manufacturing” to other TRIs of “gaming” and
“hotels” since 2003.

Chart 2: Visitor Arrivals, 2000-2008

8,000

7,000

6,000
No. ('000)

5,000

4,000

3,000

2,000

1,000

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Note: Visitor arrivals and other non-residents for 2000 to 2007 and visitor arrivals separately
available only for 2008.
Source: DSEC.

Aside from “gaming”, the TRIs had maintained an upward trend for proportion of
part-time employees until 2008. The high proportion might also reflect the situation
of labour shortage during the period when business expanded at a fast pace.
Compared with other TRIs, gaming provides a whole set of training facilities and

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 Employment Characteristics and Trends of Tourism-related Industries

well-developed employment standards. Hence, part-time work does not dominate in

the industry.

Table 8: Part-time Employees by Industry, 2000-2008

Industry 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Manufacturing1 4.9 4.5 5.9 5.2 5.1 3.7 4.1 2.9 3.8
Electricity, gas & water
2.2 2.7 3.2 3.8 2.1 0.1 0.3 0.5 0.1
supply1
1
Hotel 1.1 1.6 3.3 6.4 5.8 5.8 4.9 8.6 7.3
1
Catering 7.4 8.2 9.2 10.7 13.2 13.5 17.7 18.9 12.4
Financial intermediation1 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.5 0.7 1.0 1.4 2.5 2.4
Retail trade 2 6.8 8.3 8.4 7.5 10.0 12.1 12.9 13.9 12.0
Transport2 3.8 3.0 3.5 4.0 5.0 4.3 4.0 5.3 4.1
Investigation & security
0.9 0.9 1.6 0.4
activities2,3
Public sewage & refuse
0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
disposal2,3
Gaming2,4 7.4 6.1 5.6 2.9 2.6
Unit: Proportion in %.
Notes:
1. Data released in first and third quarters on a regular basis; annual figures are averages of the two
quarters.
2. Data released in second and fourth quarters on a regular basis; annual figures are averages of the
two quarters.
3. Data available since the fourth quarter of 2005.
4. Data available since 2004.
Source: DSEC.

3.3 Remuneration and working condition

As shown in Chart 3, the income levels of different TRIs were varied during 2000-08.
The income levels of “recreational, cultural, gaming and other services” and
“transport, storage and communications” employees were higher than the overall
median. Meanwhile, employee incomes in “hotels, restaurants and similar activities”
and “wholesale, retail trade and similar activities” were comparatively low. On the
other hand, the growth rate of the overall median was 33.5% between 2000 and 2008,
while the rate for “recreational, cultural, gaming and other services” was much higher
(43.4%). However, the growth rates for other TRIs, including “wholesale, retail
trade and similar activities” (28.5%), “transport, storage and communications” (26.6%)
and “hotels, restaurants and similar activities” (25.8%), were apparently lower.

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 Employment Characteristics and Trends of Tourism-related Industries

Chart 3: Inflation-adjusted Median Monthly Earnings of Employees, 2000-2008

( MOP)
12,000

11,000

10,000

9,000

8,000

7,000

6,000

5,000

4,000

3,000
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Hotels, restaura nts & similar activities Wholesa le, retail trade & similar activities
Tra nsport, storage & communications Recreational, cultura l, ga ming & other services
Overall median

Note: Data are adjusted with the composite consumer price index.
Source: Underlying data from DSEC.

Table 9: Median Weekly Working Hours of Employees by Industry, 2001-2008

Industry 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Hotels, restaurants & similar
activities 57.9 55.5 53.0 54.0 51.4 49.8 48.7 48.1
Wholesale, retail trade &
similar activities 53.4 52.9 52.0 54.1 49.3 48.9 48.8 48.6
Transport, storage &
communications 47.4 47.0 47.0 47.6 47.2 47.0 47.1 46.7
Other community, social &
personal services 55.0 53.9 52.2 53.3 49.1 47.4 47.0 46.9
Average 53.4 52.3 51.1 52.3 49.3 48.3 47.9 47.6
Overall 48.1 47.8 47.3 48.0 47.5 47.1 46.9 46.9
Difference 5.3 4.5 3.8 4.3 1.7 1.2 1.0 0.7
Source: DSEC.

Other than pay, the number of working hours reflects the working condition of
employees. According to Table 9, the median weekly working hours of employees for
all TRIs were over the average median of all employees, with the highest observed in
the “hotels, restaurants and similar activities” industry. On the other hand, the
difference between median hours of the TRIs and all sectors contracted from 5.3 hours

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 Employment Characteristics and Trends of Tourism-related Industries

in 2000 to less than one hour in 2008, showing a relative improvement in working
condition for the TRIs.

3.4 Mobility

According to the Labour Mobility Survey 2006 and 2007 conducted by the DSEC,
most of the job-changers had worked previously in the TRIs, such as “hotels,
restaurants and similar activities” (24.1% in 2006 and 20.0% in 2007), “recreation,
cultural, gaming and other services” (16.3% and 20.4%) and “wholesale and retail
trade” (18.0% and 18.1%). Subsequently, most of them would join the above three
industries with respective proportions of 17.6%, 34.5% and 12.5% in 2006 and 17.5%,
40.8% and 9.7% in 2007.

In 2008, the DSEC carried out the survey of job-changing of employed persons,
creating a more precise picture of job-changers in the TRIs. As presented in Table
10, workers of the TRIs showed the highest mobility in Macao. As the inflow of
labour was larger than its outflow, the TRIs could absorb more workers, from the
same industry or other industries, which also substantiated the high accessibility of
TRI employment at the same time.

Table 10: Employee Mobility of Selected Industries, 2008

Recreation,
Hotels, Restaurants Whole & Retail
Employee Mobility Cultural, Gaming &
& Similar Activities Trade
Other Services
No. (% share) No. (% share) No. (% share)
Inflow 16,200 8,000 4,300
Cross-industry 8,200 (50.6) 3,600 (45.0) 2,400 (55.8)
Intra-industry 8,000 (49.4) 4,400 (55.0) 1,900 (44.2)
Outflow 2,400 4,100 4,800
Source: DSEC.

On geographical mobility, the Macao Government started to approve importation of

labour in 1988. Concurrently, the importation is applied to skilled workers (Dispatch
No. 49/GM/88), unskilled workers (Dispatch No. 12/GM/88) and “non-residents
exercising activities of direct personal gains” (Administrative Regulation No.
17/2004).

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 Employment Characteristics and Trends of Tourism-related Industries

The proportion of non-resident workers in the TRIs to total non-resident workers rose
from around 20% in 2000 to over 50% in 2007, but retreated to 45.9% in 2008 (Table
11). Among the TRIs, “hotels” and “recreational, cultural, gaming and other
services” were the two industries which employed the largest proportion of
non-resident workers, with their shares rising significantly in 2005 and 2006.

Hotels and gaming enterprises, especially the foreign ones, imported skilled foreign
workers to play the managerial and training roles and specialists of different fields,
like performers, artists and chefs of special cuisines, who could not be found in
Macao. In addition, they also needed a large quantity of unskilled non-resident
workers to maintain their large-scale operations. The SMEs in “restaurants, bars,
canteens and similar activities” and “wholesale and retail trade” largely imported
unskilled workers to cope with the increased workload brought about by the fast
growth of tourists and also to supplement local workers who had left for better
remuneration in large companies.

Table 11: Shares of Non-resident Workers in the TRIs, 2000-2008

Industry 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Hotels 7.9 6.8 6.4 7.2 6.9 8.4 7.1 8.9 11.5
Restaurants, bars, canteens
2.7 2.5 2.6 3.0 3.1 4.3 4.6 6.0 8.1
& similar activities
Wholesale & retail trade 5.4 4.3 4.5 0.7 1.0 1.6 2.3 4.3 7.6
Transport, storage &
1.7 2.1 2.3 4.1 1.9 1.7 1.8 2.1 2.7
communications
Recreational, cultural,
6.9 8.1 9.1 7.2 10.3 15.1 32.1 29.7 16.0
gaming & other services
Subtotal of TRIs 24.6 22.6 24.8 22.2 23.2 31.2 47.9 51.0 45.9
Unit: % share.
Source: DSEC.

The drop in the number of non-resident workers in 2008 was in line with the financial
tsunami, slower growth of tourism and the rise in the unemployment rate. In view of
the deteriorated economic environment, the MSAR Government implemented
measures in restricting the importation and quotas of non-resident workers.

3.5 Enterprise size

As shown in Table 12, which presents data of 2000-08, there were variations among

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 Employment Characteristics and Trends of Tourism-related Industries

different TRIs. For “retail trade” and “catering”, over half of the employees worked
in small establishments with total number of staff below 30.

For gaming, however, almost 90% of the paid employees worked in establishments
with more than 2,000 staff. For the hotel industry, in the years 2000 to 2005, about
50% of its employees were working in establishments with 200-499 staff, while in the
years 2007 and 2008, over 70% of them worked in establishments with staff of over
500.

In 2002, the MSAR Government ended the monopoly in gaming. With the strong
growth of tourism, there has been a significant increase in foreign direct investment.
International hotel and casino groups have invested massively in building large hotel
and gaming facilities, which have eventually demanded for a huge number of
workers.

Therefore, the TRIs can be divided into two streams. First, the large foreign
enterprises in the gaming and hotel sectors employ a huge number of workers. They
introduce their management attitudes and system to their Macao establishments,
providing employees with better working conditions, accompanied by higher wages,
as well as an improved benefit and compensation system. They also import a
significant number of foreign workers for their expanding operations. In order to
fulfill their international service standards and with attractive terms provided, they
usually require their employees to have a higher educational attainment (probably
above secondary level) and better language skills, and provide training programmes
for improvement in staff quality.

Second, in “catering”, “retail trade” and other similar activities, SMEs, of which,
some are family-owned shops, prevail in the market. The labour contracts they offer
are usually informal and short-term. Working conditions are less favourable, usually
with longer working hours, lower wages and limited training and benefits provided.
In other words, the development of gaming and related activities in the past few years
has appeared to improve the average employment condition in the TRIs.

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 Employment Characteristics and Trends of Tourism-related Industries

Table 12: Employees by Size of Establishment in Selected Industries, 2000-2008

Industry/ Size of
establishment
(No. of workers) 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Avg.
Hotel
<30 2.5 1.9 1.5 1.6 1.6 1.5 1.1 0.8 0.5 1.1
30-49 2.3 2.7 3.6 2.9 2.3 1.8 2.2 0.8 0.6 1.6
50-99 2.6 2.2 1.1 1.5 1.9 1.7 1.4 0.7 1.1 1.3
100-199 8.8 12.0 16.3 13.2 12.2 13.7 9.6 6.7 3.5 8.4
200-499 58.6 56.7 52.3 53.8 56.7 48.2 36.9 19.4 14.7 33.3
>=500 25.2 24.4 25.2 27.0 25.3 33.1 48.9 71.6 79.7 54.3
Catering
<30 53.6 53.9 54.8 56.9 56.7 55.9 51.5 52.1 49.9 53.6
30-49 11.3 10.7 10.7 11.1 10.6 9.3 8.8 8.8 7.5 9.6
50-99 16.0 16.9 17.7 16.2 17.5 18.1 18.7 16.1 16.0 17.0
100-199 13.9 11.9 11.9 11.7 9.1 10.4 10.5 11.3 13.3 11.6
200-499 5.2 6.6 4.9 4.1 3.9 1.7 1.2 2.8 7.2 4.2
>=500 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.3 4.7 9.2 8.9 6.0 4.0
Retail trade
<30 82.3 82.5 81.4 79.3 75.4 73.9 70.4 67.3 66.3 73.9
30-49 2.9 3.8 4.0 4.3 6.1 4.9 5.3 4.9 5.4 4.8
50-99 5.9 4.9 4.7 4.4 5.4 4.3 4.7 6.8 8.6 5.8
100-199 3.1 2.4 3.7 4.9 4.6 7.5 8.1 5.5 4.7 5.2
200-499 5.9 6.4 6.1 7.1 2.7 3.7 5.9 9.8 10.2 6.7
>=500 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 5.8 5.7 5.7 5.7 4.7 3.6
Transport
<30 21.6 21.5 23.0 22.6 23.1 19.3 20.5 23.5 23.4 22.1
30-49 3.4 3.5 3.8 6.1 6.7 5.7 7.8 5.9 6.0 5.4
50-99 7.1 6.5 5.1 3.1 5.3 4.3 6.6 7.7 8.8 6.0
100-199 4.9 4.5 6.6 10.6 10.5 9.3 8.1 10.0 10.7 8.3
200-499 24.4 22.8 16.7 14.3 12.1 14.3 13.6 12.2 12.4 15.9
>=500 38.4 41.2 44.8 43.3 42.4 47.2 43.5 40.8 38.6 42.2
Gaming*
<100 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.2 0.1 0.3
100-299 1.2 0.5 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.3
300-499 2.2 3.2 2.4 2.7 2.2 2.5
500-999 3.2 2.7 1.7 0.6 1.9 1.8
1000-1999 6.0 6.8 5.5 3.8 3.7 4.8
>=2000 86.9 86.3 89.8 93.0 92.1 90.4
Unit: Proportion in %.
Note: *Data available since 2004.
Source: DSEC.

4. Conclusion

This paper discusses employment characteristics and trends of TRIs with application
to Macao from five perspectives – accessibility, flexibility, remuneration and working
condition, mobility and enterprise size.

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 Employment Characteristics and Trends of Tourism-related Industries

The TRIs in Macao present a relatively high accessibility of employment in terms of

educational attainment, age, number of vacancies and recruitment prerequisites.
This feature is conducive to absorbing displaced workers from “sunset” industries,
and hence helps tackle the problem of structural unemployment in Macao.4

While demand for tourism services is relatively stable in Macao, employment in the
TRIs, especially in non-gaming TRIs, still evinces flexibility with a comparatively
high proportion of part-time workers. Meanwhile, the high mobility of tourism
employment, represented by the high staff turnover and a larger proportion of
non-resident workers, also enhances employment flexibility. As high flexibility is a
feature and merit of tourism employment, a proper regulatory system for employment
of temporary or part-time workers would encourage local residents to join the
workforce, eventually lifting the labour force participation rate and helping to relieve
the labour shortage problem in Macao.

It is also found that the working condition of employees in the TRIs has generally
improved, attributable to the development in the gaming and hotel industries with new
entries of large foreign corporations. Improvements have been witnessed in income,
benefit and working hours, though some TRIs such as restaurants, retail and similar
activities are still lagged behind in this employment aspect. In addition, major
tourism industries in Macao, including gaming and hotel, are currently dominated by
large enterprises, which appear to be able to provide better working conditions, terms
and training opportunities for workers.

Tourism is a leading economic sector in Macao, and TRIs are the largest employer in
the SAR. In view of its high degree of economic significance, it is hoped that this
paper, which highlights the characteristics and trends of tourism employment, can
provide some useful insights and an analytic reference for relevant policy and
business planning.

4
For a detailed analysis of structural unemployment in Macao, see Chan (2003).
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