Daily Wage of Construction Workers in Macao Down 3% in Q4 2008

The average daily wage of Macao's construction workers was 526 patacas (67 U.S. dollars) in the fourth quarter of 2008, dropping by three percent quarter-to-quarter, according to the figures released on Wednesday by the city's Statistics and Census Service (DSEC).

After discounting the effect of inflation, the wage index of construction workers for the fourth quarter of 2008 was 95.8 in real terms, up slightly by 0.4 percent quarter-to-quarter, with that of skilled and semi-skilled workers increasing by 0.2 percent to 95.6 and that of unskilled workers going up by 2.4 percent to 97.7, the DSEC said.

For the whole of 2008, the average wage index of construction workers declined by eight percent year-on-year to 99.6 in real terms, according to the DSEC figures.

Meanwhile, the average price index of construction materials for residential buildings rose by 22.6 percent year-on-year to 148.0 in 2008.

Source: Xinhua