Almost 4 out of 5 SMEs no longer keen on hiring foreigners: survey

Despite the worker levy deferral.

SMEs aren't too keen on hiring foreigners despite the deferral of foreign worker levy hikes, a survey by JobsDB revealed.

Results showed that 48% of respondentsexpressed uncertainty towards hiring foreigners and only 24% said they were still open to it, despite the recent budget announcement delaying the slated increase to foreign worker levies.

The implementation of government initiatives such as the Fair Consideration Framework, has also given SMEs additional pressure to compete to attract local talent in an already tight labour market. In particular, the survey revealed that SMEs are looking to fill positions in sales (40%), administration / office support (31%), accounting, engineering (19%) and IT (18%).