MSAR Government committed to safeguarding residents’ employment

MACAU, June 16 - The Macao Special Administrative Region (MSAR) Government remains firmly committed to safeguarding the employment rights and interests of local residents, including creating better conditions for Macao’s youth and expanding their employment opportunities.

The Chief Executive, Mr Sam Hou Fai, made the remarks on Tuesday (16 June) during a plenary session of the Legislative Assembly. He also said the Government would adopt multiple measures – from top-level planning and legal system improvements to administrative support and financial investment – to steadily advance Macao’s urban renewal and tangibly improve residents' living conditions.

During the session, members of the Legislative Assembly raised concerns regarding the employment of local residents. Mr Sam stressed that the MSAR Government has consistently prioritised residents’ employment and thoroughly implemented the “local residents first” labour policy. He added that the local authorities were continuously coordinating and advancing relevant work through a task force for the coordination of employment promotion.

From January to April this year, a total of 40 industry-specific job-matching sessions were held, assisting 3,770 individuals in securing employment. The “employment + training” special programme has offered more than 600 vacancies this year, alongside targeted training and certification programmes designed to create opportunities for residents’ upward mobility. The existing comprehensive vocational training platform has launched 447 courses, serving more than 3,000 participants. In the third quarter, the Government would introduce a series of “order-based training courses” to strengthen the alignment between vocational training, personal skills, and labour market needs, ensuring training content more closely matches industry demand.

Mr Sam said the MSAR Government would continue to take the lead in providing employment referral services. For positions that local job seekers were willing and able to fill, the Government will refer suitable candidates to enterprises and continue to monito placement outcomes in order to expand employment opportunities for local residents.

Mr Sam also shared insights into Macao’s efforts to promote appropriate economic diversification. He said the Government was actively working to attract industrial projects to Macao that would facilitate the participation of local enterprises while creating more employment opportunities for local residents.

In the first five months of 2026, the authorities completed the follow-up work on 108 investment plans, generating 493 jobs, with projects in the “1+4” industries accounting for more than 60 percent of the total. Concurrently, the Government intensified efforts to collect information on job vacancies from enterprises in key industries, and is currently conducting a survey on future talent demand in Macao’s priority development sectors, in order to better understand skill requirements and help students make informed career plans.

Mr Sam pointed out that young people are the hope and future of Macao, and that strengthening talent development is an important governance principle of the MSAR Government. It is imperative to “invest in people” by optimising the education system, cultivating the talent needed for industrial development, and enhancing the employment competitiveness of residents in general and young people in particular, he said.

To this end, the Government would continue to advance relevant initiatives effectively, including aligning vocational and technical education courses with the “1+4” strategic development direction and improving the distribution of higher education courses in line with industry needs, while increasing the availability of relevant degree programmes. Meanwhile, a “student career planning blueprint” programme will be launched, closely linked to the “1+4” industrial development plan, providing diversified activities for students at different stages of their education.

Urban renewal was another key focus of the Legislative Assembly session. Mr Sam said urban renewal was an important component of the country’s 15th Five-Year Plan. The 15th Five-Year Plan for Urban Renewal, recently issued by the State Council, provides vital guidance and reference for Macao’s urban renewal efforts. The Chief Executive noted that urban renewal is a comprehensive undertaking requiring coordinated planning and systematic implementation to achieve broad benefits, including improving the living environment in older districts, enhancing residents’ quality of life, maintaining appropriate population density, and effectively preserving and revitalising older buildings, while introducing new economic formats, fostering new sources of economic growth, and strengthening urban resilience and safety.

Mr Sam said the MSAR Government would take account of Macao’s actual circumstances and promote the establishment of an urban renewal model characterised by government-led initiatives, market-based operations, active public participation, measures tailored to local conditions, efficient use of resources, and the integration of redevelopment, revitalisation and district development.

The Chief Executive stated that particular emphasis would be placed on the role of the Land and Urban Construction Bureau as the lead department responsible for urban renewal, in order to better drive urban renewal efforts across multiple areas, including the legal framework, planning, land use, project approval, and community support. At the same time, Macau Urban Renewal Limited would be encouraged to better perform its functions by using market-oriented approaches to understand the needs of property owners and facilitate project implementation, he added.

In addition, the Government plans to carry out urban assessments and initiate research this year on the planning system for priority urban renewal development areas, Mr Sam said. This research will analyse the actual conditions of Macao’s older districts, establish an implementation-oriented urban renewal planning model, and produce practical and operational planning outcomes to guide future renewal projects.

He added that urban renewal required adjustments to existing laws and regulations in order to remove legal and institutional barriers and establish stronger supporting mechanisms for urban renewal work. The Government would continuously review the legal framework governing urban renewal and explore schemes for tax concessions and reductions in land premiums.

The Chief Executive also mentioned that the Government needed to make good use of resources to provide greater support for urban renewal. This includes the rational use of existing public resources such as exchange housing, temporary housing, and economic housing, as well as exploring the expansion of their scope of application, in order to increase property owners’ willingness to participate in redevelopment through more diverse means.

Furthermore, the Government would steadily advance work on formulating methods for calculating rents and allocating temporary housing, Mr Sam said. It would also systematically proceed with the renewal of pipelines, the upgrading of drainage networks in older districts, and the rectification of overhead cables crossing streets.

Regarding building maintenance and repair, Mr Sam said the MSAR Government would enhance property owners’ awareness of the importance of maintaining and repairing their own buildings. It would also advance the revision of the administrative regulation on the Building Maintenance Fund and related subsidy schemes, in order to provide greater support for maintenance works. Meanwhile, governance arrangements for buildings without owners' corporations, residents' organisations, or property management companies will be strengthened, and safety inspections would be conducted regularly, Mr Sam said.