Casino manager says Macau law favouring local staff is handicap

Macau's drive to put locals first in the job market is taking away its competitive edge, a manager at one of its newest casino resorts said.

A top-level rethink is needed to ensure that casinos opening soon have enough skilled and capable labour, he said.

Having to use local people meant lower language and hospitality skills - both crucial to a service economy - Hoffman Ma Ho-man, the deputy chief executive of the HK$3.1 billion Ponte 16 resort, told the Sunday Morning Post.

Under a bylaw issued by Macau's Human Resources Office that took effect this month, companies must employ a minimum number of local staff. In addition, if any local worker leaves the job, they must be replaced with another local within two weeks.

The government began to give locals priority two years ago during the global financial meltdown. That led to a drop in the number of imported workers. Since September 2008, their number has dropped by nearly a third, or about 31,100.

At Ponte 16, about 200 foreign staff were recently fired, leaving the 1,800-strong workforce with a foreign complement of about 500.