Government data on Wednesday showed that the continued decline in Macau casino gross gaming revenue (GGR) does not affect salaries paid to employees.
Average salaries for gaming industry workers in Macau have risen nearly 20% since the recession began in June last year, according to data from the Macau Bureau of Statistics.
In the third quarter of 2015, the average monthly employment income of Macau gaming sector workers was 19,000 MOPs (approximately $2,380). This represents an 18.8% increase compared to the average monthly MOPs of 16,000 in the second quarter of 2014.
Macau casino GGR growth turned negative in June 2014. This month, game sales fell 3.7% year-on-year, turning downward for the first time in five years. Casino GGR has since retreated for 16 consecutive months year-on-year. 홀짝게임
In the year to September 2015, cumulative GGR was 176.02 billion MOPs, down 36.2% from the same period in 2014.
Several Macau game operators have already implemented cost-cutting plans to cope with the drop in revenue. While pay cuts have yet to be announced, some companies have come up with measures to control pay-related costs, such as allowing more unpaid leave and reducing overtime.
The gaming sector has not only been paying more since the beginning of the recession, but is also hiring more people, showing data from statistics and census services. The sector employed 84,200 people in the third quarter of 2015, an increase of about 4,100 from the second quarter of 2014. The increase was partly due to the second phase of performances by Galaxy Macao and Broadway Macao, run by the Galaxy Entertainment Group, on May 27.
