Legislator Wang Sai Man says employers will not agree to an increase in Macao’s minimum wage because many are still coping with the financial fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Wang said that small and medium-sized enterprises, which represent the vast majority of the businesses in Macao, wouldn’t be able to withstand additional wage burdens, according to a report in Hoje Macau.
A minimum wagę of 32 patacas per hour, 256 per day, or 6,656 per month became law in 2020.
Labour leaders are pushing for an increase to 35 patacas per hour, potentially adding 624 patacas to the monthly minimum wage.
Lawmaker Lei Chan U says the time has come to compensate workers who have been laid off or have seen their wages frozen amid the pandemic economy.
[See more: SMEs to get back non-resident employment quotas in five working days]
Wang, who represents the business sector in the chamber, said that local employers were battered by the pandemic and “had to fight for survival” during the past three years.
He appealed to the government to consider the global economic situation, inflation, and “the negative impact on the flexibility and dynamics of the labour market and on society,” Hoje Macau said.
Businesses could now “finally see the way out,” Wang said. Increases in wage pressure, he argued, would “cause a chain reaction” and threaten economic recovery.
