Employers will pay 200 patacas (25. 3 U.S. dollars) as an "employment fee" for each imported worker they hire when the Law on Employment of Non-Resident Workers becomes effective on April 26, the local Macao Post Daily reported Wednesday.

The newspaper quoted Executive Council spokesman Leong Heng Teng as saying that the "employment fee" applied to all enterprises hiring imported workers, although employers in the manufacturing industry will only pay a 100-pataca fee as government of Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) tried to soften the impact on the increasingly struggling factory sector.

According to official figures, there were 72,843 imported workers in Macao at the end of last month, with 6,197 of them hired by 412 manufacturing companies. Macao currently has 16,258 imported workers working as domestic helpers.

Leong said the 200-pataca "employment fee" will be paid to the Social Security Fund and use for measures which are to be announced shortly, and the employers will be liable to a penalty of 300 patacas (37.9 U.S. dollars) to 1,000 patacas (126.5 U.S. dollars) for any overdue payment for each imported worker hired.