Gender characteristics and labor market of Macao: insight from the gaming sector classification

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of gender characteristics in the labor market of Macao and in gaming companies' employee-selection process. Design/methodology/approach: The paper uses logistic regression to test the statistical significance of gender characteristics in the labor market and the employee-selection process, while data are drawn from the Statistics and Census Service of Macao. The marginal effects of gender characteristics on the probability of working in the gaming sector and non-gaming sector are calculated for practical significance. Findings: Gender characteristics are statistically significant in the labor market. For the age groups of 45–54 and 55–64 years, females with educational attainment (senior secondary or below) tend to have a higher probability of working in the gaming industry, while for the young age groups of 25–34 and 35–44 years, the impact of gender characteristics tends to be much smaller, suggesting that gender inequality is less severe in young age groups. This can be explained by the change in focus of the gaming industry from the traditional gaming component in the past to non-gaming components in recent years. Originality/value: This paper is intended to give information about the impact of gender characteristics on the labor market of Macao, after controlling for age and educational attainment. Scholars may utilize the insights from this paper to make comparisons between different economies and Macao and investigate whether the findings related to gender characteristics are consistent.