PUTRAJAYA (March 18): Foreign worker employment quota approvals, including through the Foreign Worker Employment Relaxation Plan, will be halted from Saturday (March 18) until further notice to shore up utilisation of approved quotas.

In announcing the decision, Human Resources Minister V Sivakumar said 995,396 foreign worker employment quota applications had been approved as of Tuesday across various sectors, namely manufacturing (387,122), construction (342,106), services (143,568), plantation (76,325), agriculture (45,899), as well as mining and quarrying (376).

"Approvals for foreign worker quotas so far are expected to meet foreign labour needs by industry, including in critical sectors," Sivakumar said, urging employers with approved quotas to speed up the bringing in of foreign workers during this period to fill their needs.

"The number of foreign workers entering is still low, compared to the number of quotas that have been approved," he added.

The Foreign Worker Employment Relaxation Plan, implemented with the Ministry of Home Affairs between Jan 17 and March 31, was meant to speed up approvals of foreign worker quota applications to fill the needs of five critical sectors, namely plantation, manufacturing, construction, agriculture and services (restaurants).