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Archive for April, 2005
Ho: New Measures to Improve Quality of Life
Chief Executive Edmund Ho admitted that the divide between the rich and the poor is becoming more serious after the economy took off, and promised to implement new measures to promote the quality of life of the population and Macau's sustainable development.
Speaking in a reception celebrating May Day, the international day of the working people, organised by the General Associations of Trades Union of Macau (AGOM), Ho said that his government will sensibly redistribute social resources, and will concentrate on improving the living environment of the whole population, particularly to disadvantaged groups.
The Government will also introduce new thinking and implement new measures in face of rapid economic development and inflation to promote a happier life for the population and ensure Macau's sustainable development.
He also said that the Government will refine the structure of the economy in order to promote a development of a harmonious society.
Induction and on-the-job training will also be enhanced to improve the quality of human resources in Macau.
Wide Press Coverage on KMT-Communist Dialogue
Most Chinese-language newspaper here put the news of the historic meeting of the leader of Kuomintang, Lien Chan, and the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, Hu Jintao, as headlines or in dominant positions.
Commentaries were also published praising the move, saying that it will ease the cross-strait tensions, and expressed hope for the revitalisation of the Chinese nation.
Construction Materials Prices Up
The price indices rose in most of the surveyed construction materials in the first quarter of 2005, compared with the fourth quarter of 2004.
Among them, steel, aluminium, sand, concrete, lime, aggregates, timber, red bricks, ceramic products, glass, paint, pipes and electric wires rose between 0.03% and 11.2%.
However, the price indices of sanitary articles and cement fell 0.4% and 0.1% respectively.
Among the above changes in price indices, sand recorded the largest increase of 11.2%, whereas the largest decrease was in sanitary articles, down 0.4%.
Compared with the first quarter of 2004, price indices rose in most of the surveyed construction materials, with the biggest increase in electric wires, up 62.4%, whereas steel decreased the most, by 2.7%.
These figures are released by the Government's Statistics and Census Bureau this morning.
Bank: Macau Gaming Revenue "Will Overtake Nevada" by 2007
Macau's revenue in gaming is likely to overtake Nevada by 2007, according to a sutdy conducted by the Bank of America.
The Bank estimated that the revenue in 2007 will reach 10.24 billion euros, and will reach 12.8 billion euros by 2010.
Government Thinktank May Focus on "Priority Issues"
The Government's thinktank may give priority to issues of major concern in their studies that will help policy formulation in the future, after a series of consultative sessions to different sectors of Macau's community was held by the Centre for Quality of Life Studies (CEQV) in the past three weeks.
Nine consultative sessions were held, covering grassroot organisations, businesses, education, professionals, medical care, culture, academic institutions, the Macanese community as well as the media.
Daniel Tse, Director of the CEQV, said that the participants expressed their concerns mostly on a couple of issues.
Ranked according to the frequency of proposals, they include education, medical care, human resources, housing and environment, traffic, cultural quality and social values.
Other issues that were raised included the social problems that occurred due to the failure of the community facilities to catch up with the rapid economic development.
Lectures will be organised by CEQV to deepen the understanding of the population on the concept of quality of life, and field visits to other countries will be conducted so that policy implementation can be understood.
Moreover, the CEQV will launch studies and questionnaire surveys to investigate further the social problems of Macau that affect the quality of life of the population.
Macau Unemployment Rate Stays Same
The unemployment rate for January – March 2005 was held stable at 4.1% compared with December 2004 – February 2005, but decreased by 1.4 percentage points over the same period of 2004, according to the most recent employment survey carried out by the Government's Statistics and Census Bureau.
The underemployment rate was 1.1%, down 0.1 and 1.2 percentage points over December 2004 – February 2005 and the same period of 2004 respectively.
The number of the unemployed searching for the first job was about 900, or 8.8% of the total unemployed. This represented a decrease of 1.5 percentage points over December 2004 – February 2005.
Compared with December 2004 – February 2005, unemployment situation continued to improve in Wholesale & retail trade and Restaurants & similar activities, while it worsened in Real estate, renting & business activities and Construction.
Total labour force was estimated at 240,000 in January – March 2005; the employed and the unemployed populations were 230,000 and 9,900 respectively.
Labour force participation rate was 62.5%, up 0.1 and 0.9 percentage point over December 2004 – February 2005 and the same period of 2004 respectively.
Meanwhile, the administrative information provided by Public Security Police, number of non-resident workers with working permits totalled 28,648 at the end of March 2005, an increase of 3.3% over December 2004.
Coverage on KMT Visit to Mainland China
Chinese-language newspapers here today reported the news of the visit by the President of Kuomintang, Lien Chan, to mainland China, as headlines or in dominant pages.
Macau Wealth Distribution Imbalance Worsens
Macau's Gini Index is estimated to reach 0.46, an increase of 0.01 point from 2002/2003.
This figure is estimated by “an economist”, according to the Macao Daily News.
This follows after the liberalised casinos began to pay their staff better, but the pay for those who are unaffected by the
liberalisation, small and medium enterprises in particular, remained the same.
This resulted in the imbalance in wealth distribution among the population.
The “economist” quoted in the newspaper said that aabout 60% of Macau's population are still in the medium to low-income class. With such a rapid economic development at 28% in 2004, they cannot catch up with their salary increase, as well as the pace of economic growth.
Business Laws to Amend as Part of Legal Reform
It was agreed at the first meeting of the Legal Reform Consultation Committee, held yesterday, that the Commerical Code, Highway code and pension scheme for civil servants will be amended as the first step to Macau's legal reform.
The Compnay Law and registration scheme will be looked at with priority when the Commerical Code is to be amended. The approach to study the entire Code is rejected at the meeting.
