The Government of Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) has vowed to take an active role in achieving social consensus on legislation for a minimum wage in Macao, the Macao Post Daily reported on Friday.

Secretary for Economy and Finance Tam Pak Yuen made the comment Thursday after a close-door meeting at Government Headquarters with representatives from Macao Federation of Workers Unions (FAOM) , who attempted to deliver its study report on the minimum wage and urge the government to legislate as soon as possible.

The newspaper quoted Tam as saying that the government's attitude to legislation has moved to taking an "active and leading " role in searching for social consensus on the issue.

"It is time for carrying out a concrete study on minimum wage legislation," Tam said, adding the government expects a certain degree of social consensus to be reached next year.

According to Tam, the government would launch a framework which would first establish the minimum wage for certain kinds of job or industries. Tam said it should be easy to extend the system to the private sector for jobs such as cleaners and security guards as the government sector already set a minimum wage in those areas.

However, Tam admitted that it is difficult and could take a long time to reach a "comprehensive" social consensus on the minimum wage for all industries.

According to a survey carried out by FAOM, wage rates between 25 to 29 patacas (3.1 to 3.6 U.S. dollars) or 30 to 34 patacas (3. 7 to 4.2 U.S. dollars) per hour were most popular respondents.