The Macau Metro Monitor. November 27th, 2009.
MACAU AUGUST-OCTOBER UNEMPLOYMENT rttnews.com
According to the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC), Macau’s unemployment rate was 3.5% for the August to October period, down from 3.7% in the preceding three month period. On a year-over-year basis, unemployment during the period was up 40 bps from 3.1%. The labor force participation rate declined from 72% to 71.7% during the August to October period. By industry, the unemployment situation improved in hotels, restaurants and similar activities and wholesale and retail trade.
MACAU OFFICIAL PREDICTS A MONTHLY GAMING REVENUE $1BILLION macaunews.com.mo
Secretary for Economy and Finance Francis Tam Pak Yuen has predicted that next year’s monthly gaming revenues will be US$1 billion. Tam was presenting the government’s 2010 budget bill to the legislature when he made his "prudent" prediction. Official statistics show that the gaming sector's gross receipts ranged between a low of 7.9 billion in February and a high of 11.27 billion in August in the first nine months of this year. Tam also said that next year’s direct gaming tax payments should reach MOP 33.8 billion. For the first ten months of the year, this figure has been MOP 32.9 billion (72% of the government’s total receipts). The Secretary also said that Macau's six gaming operators' contributions to urban development, tourism promotion and social security were expected to reach MOP 2 billion next year.
MICE EVENTS DROP 11% IN Q3 macaunews.com
The number of MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions) events held in Macau during the third quarter was 310. Compared to the second quarter, this was a decrease of 11%, according to the figures released by the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC). Of these events, 289 were meetings/conferences while 21 were exhibitions, with the total number of participants increasing more than two times from the second quarter to 217,241.