Macao’s migrant worker population increased by 766 from January to February of this year, according to Public Security Police Force data cited by the Labour Affairs Bureau. It now totals 178,327 or more than a quarter of Macao’s population.
The greatest number of nonresident workers (121,239) continue to come from mainland China, while the second biggest migrant community hails from the Philippines (29,311).
Other notable migrant communities include the Vietnamese (7,949), Indonesians (6,402), citizens of Myanmar (3,640) and the Nepalese (3,516).
[See more: Macao pledges safeguards for workers amid criticism of its labour rights record]
There are 2,335 nonresident workers from Hong Kong and 599 from Taiwan.
Earlier this year, the Legislative Assembly made headlines when it recommended that nonresident workers be banned from forming trade unions on national security grounds.
The proposal was made in spite of recommendations by the International Labour Organisation, a UN agency, which says that “Migrant workers, regardless of their status, are first of all workers but above all human beings. As such, they have rights, including freedom of association – the right to form or join a trade union.”
