Speaking during a Legislative Assembly Q&A session, Tai said Macau’s labour market is showing signs of improvement but warned that structural pressures persist. Tai said the government had strengthened job-matching and training programmes, helping 8,700 residents secure employment so far this year, half of them young people.
“Our work has supported half of the young and middle-aged jobseekers,” he said. Authorities organised 1,600 skills-certification courses, many tied to the government’s “1+4” diversification drive.
Tai said the government is also tightening control over non-resident workers (TNRs) to free jobs for locals. “In the financial sector, we have been reducing non-resident workers step by step to release more vacancies,” he told legislators. A recent financial-sector job fair offered 200 positions specifically for local residents.
He noted that the unemployment rate has recently fallen and pledged to “continue listening to all sectors of society” as more measures are rolled out. The unemployment rate in Macau was 1.8% as of September 2025, down from 2% in the previous month, reaching a seven-month low
The Secretary also noted that as six satellite casinos had closed, some 1,600 workers were transferred back to concessionaires. Four more will close, affecting around 3,000 employees.
“We will manage this transition step by step and ensure it proceeds smoothly,” he said, adding that the government’s support hotline had received 29 assistance requests related to workers in the transitioning casinos.
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Support for SMEs and neighbourhood economy
Tai also outlined an expansion of support schemes for small and medium-sized enterprises as neighbourhood districts struggle with slower recovery, adding that the government had supported 3,600 SMEs in digital transformation and helped 62 restaurants upgrade their operations.
Consumption-promotion campaigns in community areas generated returns “four times” the size of government input, he said. SMEs also benefited from an interest-subsidy scheme that processed 1,537 cases involving MOP 3.34 billion in loans.
The government will continue using the “Tourism Plus” strategy to attract visitors into community districts through sports, culture and themed street markets. Tai said events such as these organised in Taipa and Largo do Pagode had been successful and could be expanded.
Night-time economy measures — including performances, dining promotions and activities targeting young people — will also continue.
Family benefits and labour-rights reforms
Tai said studies on extending maternity leave and adjusting holiday entitlements are completed, with work now entering the consultation phase.
“We will proceed step by step and seek consensus between labour and employers,” he said.
Responding to lawmakers on labour and training policies, Chan Un Tong, director of the Labour Affairs Bureau (DSAL), said the government is building an Integrated Professional Training Platform aimed at consolidating fragmented data scattered across public institutions.
“Our goal is to centralise dispersed information,” Chan said, explaining that training data from the Institute for Tourism Studies and the Macau Productivity and Technology Transfer Centre will be uploaded to the new system.
Residents will also be allowed to upload their own certificates to the platform so that employers can verify qualifications in the future. Chan stressed that the government will “continue improving and updating the platform,” ensuring that training information remains accurate and relevant.
He added that DSAL would activate a mechanism to match training programmes with the needs of different industries. “Depending on the staffing needs of companies and their technical requirements, we will design courses for those who need them,” he said.
Support for SMEs: flood-prevention subsidies and digitalisation
Chan also addressed questions about assistance for small and medium-sized enterprises, noting that between 2018 and 2020 the government implemented a subsidy scheme to help shops install flood-prevention equipment.
“We handled 2,615 cases under that plan,” he said. For businesses that still have not installed protective devices, the government will work with associations to strengthen their capacity and encourage SMEs to transfer flood-risk exposure to insurers.
DSAL has also received 1,681 applications under the SME digitalisation support scheme, Chan said. “We had 1,500+500 quotas — a total of 2,000 places,” he noted, adding that the bureau would work with CPTTM to review and adjust the programme.
Regarding youth-entrepreneurship loans and SME support loans, he said authorities always take borrowers’ repayment capacity into account.
Industrial development: new science-and-technology zones planned
Tai confirmed that Macau will hold a public consultation this week on its new industrial R&D park, with proposed sites at Avenida Wai Long and near the Friendship Bridge.
The plan draws on Macau’s past two decades of work in integrated circuits, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), aerospace and digital industries. “We will continue listening to sectoral opinions so we can refine the positioning and design,” he said.
Two preliminary locations are also under assessment:
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a plot of land along Avenida Wai Long, and
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a second site near the Friendship Bridge, covering 17,000 square metres.
During the upcoming consultation phase, authorities will present the park’s “functions, spatial planning and conceptual design,” which Tai said are still in the “preliminary stage”. “We will continue listening to the opinions of various sectors so we can consider and refine the plan,” Tai said.
To support the industrial development programme, he added that the government has already freed up space in the NAPE district for early construction needs related to the Macao International Science and Technology Industry Centre, which will act as an initial support platform for R&D and enterprise services.
