Special Report Gambling and hospitality need them – Macau Business

Before the pandemic, one third of Macaus inhabitants were non-residents. Most worked in the gaming and hospitality industries. After the pandemic, the same will be true.

Macau Business | February 2022 | Special Report | MigrantsinMacauTheotherside

2011 a press release from Sands China stated that because of restrictions on foreign labour resulting in a shortage of construction workers, its expansion project on Macaus Cotai strip would be opening later than scheduled.

2017 The CEO of MGM China said the company was facing a manpower shortage and would have to transfer a number of employees from its Peninsula property, MGM Macau, to its new Cotai resort.

These two examples, chosen at random from a great many possibilities, demonstrate two things: the heavy reliance of the gambling industry on non-resident workers (TNRs) and the persistence of the problem, which has basically dragged on since the 6 concessionaires began operating in full. Before 2002 the number of TNRs was on the decline, but from 2003 onwards, a drastic increase was seen in the number of such workers, up to 92,161 by the end of 2008 (or 28.5 per cent of the total employed population and 16.8 per cent of the total population).

If we go back to 2008, for instance, we realize that the hospitality sector employed some 51,073 foreign workers 28.2 per cent of its total workforce.

In 2009, even after the global financial crisis, there were still a total of 74,905 TNRs in Macau.

In 2011, as the economy quickly picked up, the number of non-local workers again increased drastically to 94,028 (or 28.7 per cent of the total employed population and 16.9 per cent of the total population).

The employment of migrant workers has become an intensely contentious issue, Professor Alex H. Choi says. The traditional pluralist approach to migration policy has highlighted a mismatch between restrictive policy pronouncements and actual expansive outcomes, he wrote in 2016.

Victor Zheng and Po-san Wan, authors of the book Gambling Dynamism(2014) agree: The main reason for their discontent was that the government and casino operators were importing outside workers (mainly from Hong Kong and Mainland China) to fill labour shortages, citing a lack of skilled local workers.

The University of Macaus Professor Choi believes, This mismatch has resonated strongly in Macau, where the number of migrant workers skyrocketed in the last decade in spite of repeated guarantees from the government that it would adopt a protectionist labour policy. The pluralist approach has attributed the mismatch to strong constituencies supporting more immigration.

Jaeyeon Choes team of researchers adds, While rigid labour regulations prohibit foreigners from working in many high-salaried positions, local labour is not enough to fill positions in Macaus hotel and hospitality sectors.

Authors Pan, Sheng and Hao in Political Economy of Macao since 1999state, The enormous investment in grandiose projects such as the Sands, Wynn, Venetian, Grand Lisboa and MGM has not only increased Macaus GDP but has also resulted in the recruitment of large numbers of overseas workers. As the economy has technically stayed at full employment, the number of non-resident workers has increased to meet the demand of the expanding services sector.

Despite public protest, gambling and tourism in Macau would not survive without TNRs more than 90 per cent of the labour force in the hotel and restaurant sectors and similar activities are TNRs.

The civil construction sector is an excellent example of this. As the Chief Executive said at the end of 2020, The pay is high, but the work is hard, so since residents dont want to go to that sector, we need the TNRs (non-resident workers). Residents prefer to stay in air-conditioned rooms.

The pay is high [in the civil construction sector], but the work is hard, so since residents dont want to go to that sector, we need the TNRs (non-resident workers). Residents prefer to stay in air-conditioned rooms Ho Iat Seng

#MeToo

With TNRs the main source of labour fuelling the hospitality industry in Macau, their working conditions and wellbeing must not be neglected, the authors of #MeToo too in Macao: Sexual Harassment of Migrant Workers(2019) insist.

Due to the nature of the service and hospitality industries and the personal circumstances of these migrant workers, they will inevitably be put at risk of encountering sexual harassment, Loureno and Gutirrez, both from the local Institute for Tourism Studies, reveal in their study.

They interviewed nine migrant workers from the hospitality industry, and the findings show serious risks and issues faced by these non-resident workers. As reflected in the study, organisations such as the multinational gaming operators and integrated resorts must do a lot more to protect these workers from becoming the silent victims of sexual harassment.

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Special Report Gambling and hospitality need them - Macau Business