The government should provide reasons why low-paid non-resident workers who receive wages less than the mandated minimum wage are allowed to work in the construction industry, legislator Ella Lei Cheng urged in her enquiry to the government. She said in her enquiry that in 2005, the government had already set up a minimum daily wage for non-resident workers working in the construction industry of MOP450 (US$56.3) and MOP11,700 per month counting 26 working days. But this standard has not been changed for over 10 years, and is now considered to be lower than what construction workers should be getting today. The legislator argues that according to official data from the Government Human Resources Office (GRH) and the Public Security Police Force (PSP) in 2015, only about 70 per cent of non-resident workers hired in the construction industry earned a salary of MOP11,700 per month, while 5,000 non-resident workers, about 10.8 per cent, earned less than MOP11,700 each month. Furthermore, last year, there were a number of professional job positions, which hired non-resident workers for electrical, painting, cement and plaster jobs, but only paid MOP8,000 per month, an amount even lower than the set minimum wage. The legislator questioned how the government could ensure the protection of local employment through its policies, if it allowed the low-paid non-resident workers in the city to be paid below minimum wage. Therefore, the legislator suggested the government should publicly indicate an approved updated standard of minimum wages for non-resident workers.
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