The number of local non-resident workers has dropped by 7.7 per cent year-on-year in November of this year to some 180,962, with the hotel, restaurant and gaming sectors seeing the largest reductions in foreign labour.
The reduction has been attributed to the slowdown in the local economy as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic impact in the local tourism and gaming industry.
The largest drop was reported in the ‘hotels, restaurants and similar activities’ sector, with foreign labour reduced by 15 per cent year-on-year to 46,285, followed by the gaming sector with an 8.8 per cent drop to 14,277, and the construction sector with an 8 per cent fall to 27,737.
Workers from Mainland China – the largest non-resident labour group – dropped by 6.5 per cent year-on-year to some 114,208, most of them employed in hotels, restaurants and construction.
Meanwhile, the number of Filipino workers went down by 5.6 per cent to 31,734, with more than half employed as domestic workers, while the Vietnamese labour force was cut by 14 per cent 12,717, half of which were also employed as domestic helpers.
