SINGAPORE — Amid complaints from businesses about the tightened inflow of imported labour, Migrant Workers’ Centre (MWC) Chairman Yeo Guat Kwang has urged employers to overcome their bind by looking at foreign workers chiefly as an “augmentation” to the workforce and not a cheaper alternative to local workers.

That means employers must look for quality, rather than quantity, in foreign manpower, said Mr Yeo, who is also a member of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Manpower.

To that end, a minimum skills requirement should be set for foreign workers seeking to renew their Employment Passes, he added.

“It’s quite unfair to ask Singaporeans to have Workforce Skills Qualifications when foreign workers don’t have to similarly prove themselves,” said Mr Yeo, at the MWC’s Deepavali celebration yesterday.

Such a requirement would not only reflect the real cost involved in hiring a foreign worker, but also allow Singaporeans to compete for jobs with foreign workers on an “equal pegging”, he added.

Although implementing such requirements will incur extra costs, employers will benefit, because better-skilled workers can be more productive, he felt. And because their skills would make them more mobile, workers will also be less prone to abuse and ill-treatment, said Mr Yeo, who highlighted the rising numbers seeking help with the MWC.

From an average of 1,200 workers per year in 2009, the figure rose to 1,500 last year.

Mr Yeo also felt foreign spouses of Singaporeans are a “strong alternative source of manpower” for companies as they are not subject to the same policy controls such as foreign worker quotas. He has proposed to the Ministry of Manpower to set up training and certification for work for this group.