Despite the economic downturn that has seen thousands in Macau lose their jobs, employers are still struggling with the city's chronic labour shortage, according to City of Dreams senior vice-president of operations Michael French.
City of Dreams is the only major property which opened in Macau this year and developer Melco Crown Entertainment is fully staffed notwithstanding regular turnover.
Mr French said despite lay-offs at many casinos, cuts to Macau's foreign-worker quotas meant the labour shortage problem was still a major hurdle.
'The economic downturn has made it more difficult to hire staff in that foreign quotas have been significantly reduced to ensure Macanese have first opportunity,' Mr French said.
'Therefore many Macau people are still employed because any job cuts at casino resorts have been in the reduction of foreign labour.'
City of Dreams, a US$2.1billion integrated urban entertainment resort on the Cotai Strip, employs about 7,000.
According to the Macau Statistics and Census Service, there were only 258 vacancies in the gaming industry as of December last year, unlike a few years ago when there were thousands of job vacancies.
