Singapore to reduce quotas for foreign workers

Feb 18, 2012

Singapore government just announced that it will lower the proportion of foreign workers companies can hire in a bid to slow increases in the number of foreign workers in the city-state.

This means lower employment opportunity for Filipinos once new rules kicks in.

Starting from July 1 this year, manufacturing companies will have to cap the percentage of foreigners they hire to 60 per cent of the workforce, down from 65 per cent currently.

For companies in the services sector, the dependency ratio ceiling will be lowered to 45 per cent from 50 per cent.

"We will introduce a calibrated reduction in dependency ratio ceilings in the manufacturing and services sectors," Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said in his budget speech.

"Depending on the growth of the foreign workforce in the next 12 months, we may also have to consider further increases in the foreign worker levy beyond July 2013," he told Parliament.

Tharman said about 500 manufacturing companies and 8,500 services firms will be affected by the lower ceiling.

Source:
http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Singapore/Story/A1Story20120217-328621.html