Doing business without new foreign workers could become the new normal

Singapore

SINGAPORE has tried both the carrot and the stick to wean companies off over-reliance on foreign labour, but the novel coronavirus might just be the final straw for employers.

The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) put a de facto freeze on new work passes in mid-March - before a two-month circuit breaker shuttered many businesses - and there is no word yet on whether the halt will lift when the quasi-lockdown ends in early June.