Firms call for easing of rules on hiring foreign workers

Nov 1, 2007, 0:11 GMT

Singapore - More companies want the Singapore government to relax the foreign-worker quota and allow them to recruit additional employees from China and India, news reports said on Thursday.

The firms are 'hoping the foreign manpower policy may be retuned to take into account the quota and sources of supplies,' The Straits Times quoted Koh Juan Kiat, executive director of the National Employers Federation, as saying.

Hotels, restaurants and the retail and transportation sectors are finding it increasingly hard to recruit from 'traditional sources,' mainly countries in the South-East Asian region, Koh said.

Business is booming in these sectors and the need for workers is growing.

Companies in the city-state must keep to certain quotas of foreign workers in relation to local hires depending on the sector. They are also limited in their sources of foreign employees.

Service-sector firms, for example, are allowed to hire work-permit holders for up to 45 per cent of their total workforce, but those from China are limited to only 5 per cent of the 45 per cent.

The government raised the quota for the construction sector last year, but projections show demand for workers will increase.