Fewer foreign workers

FEWER foreign workers were hired last year, while more jobs went to Singapore residents.
The Labour Report 2009 released by the Ministry of Manpower on Monday showed that the number of foreign workers employed fell by 0.4 per cent, or 4,200 last year.
Comparatively, more locals were hired last December from a year ago, going up by 41,800 or 2.2 per cent.
The decline in foreign employment stemmed mainly from fewer hires in the manufacturing sector, which saw a drop of 34,300 foreign workers.
Increases in hiring in the construction (19,700) and services (10,400) industries were not enough to offset the overall decline in foreign employment.
Overall there were 1,053,500 foreigners forming 35.2 per cent of total employment last December, which was 0.6 percentage points below the peak of 35.8 per cent in December 2008.
Excluding foreign domestic workers, the foreigners' share of employment was 30.7 per cent in December 2009, down from 31.4 per cent a year ago.
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