Many graduates in Macao are still unemployed more than a year after leaving university, while thousands of other residents are also jobless.
Lam Weng Loi, secretary-general of People Power Macau, said that his group has continuously received complaints from a fresh local university and college graduates unable to get a full-time job after graduation, adding that some of them have been unemployed for over a year, with some only getting part-time work “occasionally”.
Lam was speaking after handing in a petition to the Secretary for Economy and Finance Lei Wai Nong at the Labour Affairs Bureau.
According to Lam, since the gradual recovery of Macao’s economy, the unemployment rate has been easing, but more than 10,000 people are still unemployed.
The Statistic and Census Service announced last month that last year’s overall unemployment rate was 3.7 per cent, while that of local residents amounted to 4.8 per cent, up by 0.8 and 0.9 percentage points year-on-year.
The overall unemployment rate comprises residents and non-resident workers (NRWs).
With the resumption of Covid-19 test-free travel thanks to the improving Covid-19 situation, Macao’s economy is “finally seeing the light of day”, Lam said. However, he pointed out, if the quota of non-resident workers (NRWs) is increased at this time, the job market for residents may be affected.
Lam urged the government not to increase the quota of NRWs, but to strengthen support for residents’ employment opportunities, helping them retrain for future employment. He also urged the government to tackle the “hidden danger” of structural unemployment.
Regarding concerns that many fresh university and college graduates, after failing to find a suitable day job, give up looking for work and become “hidden youths”, Lam urged the government to pay more attention to the chronic underemployment of local youngsters and set up more vocational training courses, as well as job-matching sessions for them.
“Hidden youths”, phenomenon which originated in Japan and later spread to Hong Kong, have been described as being in a state of social isolation, marginalisation and being prone to emotional issues, The Macau Post Daily noted.
