The number of hotel and restaurant employees reached a record 30,563 in the first quarter of this year, an increase of 35 per cent on the same quarter of last year, the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) has announced.

The average monthly earnings of hotel and restaurant workers rose 18.9 per cent year on year to 7,078 patacas in March. While hotel room attendants earned an average of 4,659 patacas a month, waiting staff earned a monthly average of 4,915 patacas in March

The manufacturing sector had 29,528 employees in the first quarter of this year, a decrease of 7.3 per cent year on year. Some 69 per cent of the sector’s workers were employed by garment factories.  Manufacturing industry workers earned a monthly average of 4,789 patacas in March, up 6.6 per cent on the same month last year.

Macau’s electricity and water supply sector had 1,024 employees in the fist quarter of this year, a year-on-year drop of 1.4 per cent. The sector’s average monthly earnings rose 12.6 per cent to 20,449 patacas.

The finance sector had 4,866 employees in the first quarter of this year, a year-on-year increase of 7.4 per cent. Banks employed about 85 per cent of the sector’s employees. The average monthly earnings rose 4.7 per cent to 14,647 patacas in March on the same month of last year. Bank tellers earned an average of 8,498 patacas a month.

At the end of March, the manufacturing sector reported 6,550 vacancies, whereas hotels and restaurants reported 5,430 vacancies.

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