Results of an official survey released on Monday showed that average earnings (excluding bonuses and allowances) for full-time employees in Macao's gaming Industry rose by 7.4 percent year-on-year to 15,565 patacas (1,946 U.S. dollars) in June this year.

Average earnings for casino dealers grew by 0.3 percent in June over the same period of last year to 13,776 patacas (1,722 dollars) , while that for employees in casino positions such as hard and soft count clerks, cage cashiers, pit bosses, casino floorpersons, betting service operators, etc. stood at 18,807 patacas, up by 8.9 percent, according to the results of the Survey on Manpower Needs and Wages of the Gaming Industry for the second quarter of 2008, conducted by the city's Statistics and Census Service (DSEC).

Gaming industry is at the heart of the economy of Macao, the only place in China where gambling is legally allowed, since over 70 percent of the Special Administration Region government's tax income comes from gaming taxes and levies paid by the casinos, and a large part of the local population works directly or indirectly in the sector. The SAR government bans non-permanent residents from taking key positions in local casinos, such as dealer, preserving them for the less-educated locals.

At the end of the second quarter of this year, there were 45,621 paid employees engaged in the gaming industry, up by 1.3 percent year-on-year, the survey results showed.

Local gaming industry reported 764 vacant posts at the end of June, a decrease of 4,348 or 85.1 percent from a year earlier, the DSEC said.

(Xinhua News Agency September 30, 2008)