The situation of workers is getting worse every day on the south coast of China, where salaries are very low in general, with the sole exception of the gambling industry. Sociedade de Jogos de Macau has recently announced an increase in salaries, paid vacations and additional bonuses as an attempt to maintain their staff. Young croupiers earn about 1,750 dollars a month, which doubles Macau’s average salary.

The city’s unemployment rate has dropped to a historical minimum of 3.9% last February. Out of 200,000 workers in Macau, only 10,000 remain unemployed nowadays. Casino workers have increased 32% since Sands Macau was opened in May 2004. The number of employees in this first foreign casino reached 26,000 at the end of 2005, 15,000 of which were croupiers. 7% of the total working force in Macau are croupiers.

Despite these mostly positive economical figures, some are starting to show some concern about the extreme growth of the industry of casinos and the increasing importance it is gaining in the market. Student desertion figures have also gone up as a result of the boom of the gambling industry. Not only school students are leaving the classrooms and heading for full-time casino jobs, but also university students, which represent 29% of the enrolment at the Macau Tourism and Casino Careers Center.

It is possible that, in years to come, the project Cotai Strip brings about an even bigger boom of gambling sites, what may force the government to make the law more flexible regarding the contracting of foreign croupiers.