MACAO, May 26 (Xinhua) -- The booming casino industry has been producing a mixed mood in Macao, as the region's economy is expected to see a two-digit rise this year while the labor-management row is intensified.

Macao Daily News, the leading local Chinese newspaper, published a front-page economic review Thursday, forecasting the region's GDP growth at a two-digit rate in the first quarter.

The newspaper said in the article that though the official figures will be issued later this month, Macao's GDP growth rate is expected to range between 15 to 20 percent in the quarter, due to the fast-growing gaming industry.

Macao Daily News has many reasons to support its optimistic assumption.

The statistics released earlier this month by the government-run Statistics and Census Service (SCS) showed that the gross receipts of Macao's 21 casinos saw a year-on-year rise of 14.9 percent in the first quarter.

The receipts stood at 12.59 billion patacas (1.57 billion U.S. dollars) at the end of the quarter, and 4.41 billion patacas (551 million U.S. dollars) were paid to the government as direct gaming taxes.

The figures above indicated that the casino gaming remains the pillar industry in Macao, a region with a casino gaming history of more than 150 years.

The recent boom of the gaming industry could be dated back to 2003, when the government of the Macao Special Administrative Region ceased the gaming monopoly held by the local tycoon Staney Ho and started bringing in foreign investments.

Five casinos funded by overseas investors have been established since 2003. The city's per-capita GDP in 2005 increased to 194,500 patacas (2,431 U.S. dollars), up 36.2 percent over 2003.

The number of inbound tourists hiked to 18.7 million in 2005, 58 percent up on 2003.

Newly started private sector buildings reached 2.1 million square meters in 2005, 300 percent up over 2003.

The blossoming casino gaming industry has been fueling Macao's economy, local analysts widely agree.

The blossoming, however, shed shadows on the society as the resentment of the employees have been intensified.

While foreign money have poured in and the government is getting richer, many local laborers are feeling not cashing in.

Despite the breakneck economic growth, low-income workers' average wage levels have remained almost flat for long, ranging between 5,000 patacas (625 U.S. dollars) to 6,000 patacas (750 U.S. dollars) per month.

Meanwhile, the city's consumer price index reached 106.6 in this March, 14 percent higher than the average 2003 figures, leaving the grass-root laborers struggling with the rising prices.

As the gaming industry has been expanding, more laborers, in construction sector in particular, are in need.

The city's employers, however, prefer to hire overseas laborers, as the lower payment could help them cut expenses, which sparkled a much serious conflicting with the local employees.

Official statistics showed that the number of imported workers nearly doubled from 24,970 in 2003 to 47,876 in March. The region has a workforce of 255,400.

Thousands of local laborers took to street to protest against the imported labor and the illegally hiring of laborers, resulting in minor clashes with the police.

The authorities eyed the warning siren and took actions to keep the social stability.

The government has recently intensified the fight against illegal employment of laborers from outside the region including the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and the Philippines.

Local analysts viewed that in the long run, the row between the employers and the employed will continue, testing the government's administrative capability.

Edmund Ho Hau Wah, chief executive of the Macao Special Administrative Region, has for many times pledged that his government will save no effort to help every resident to share the benefits of the fast-growing economy.

Low-income local laborers will be glad to see more actions. Enditem