Debate on ministries' budgets: Manpower Openness to foreign talent not zero-sum game: Tan See Leng

ed now. The list was rolled out in September 2023 in a bid to raise the quality bar for S Pass holders by allowing services and manufacturing employers more options in hiring non-professional, managerial, executive and technical (PMET) workers on work permits, rather than S Passes.

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"As (NTS Occupation List) workers must be paid at least $2,000, this will not undermine efforts to uplift locals in these occupations," Dr Tan said.

They must also account for 8 per cent or lower of the employer's total headcount, excluding Employment Pass (EP) holders.

Currently, the NTS economies are Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

Bhutan, Cambodia and Laos will join the fold from June 1, which Dr Tan said will allow firms to build a more skilled and resilient workforce.

Typically, employers in the services and manufacturing sectors hire work permit holders only from China, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Macau, South Korea and Taiwan.

Dr Tan also announced tweaks to the Manpower for Strategic Economic Priorities scheme.

Launched in December 2022, the scheme lets firms deemed to advance Singapore's key economic priorities temporarily hire slightly more foreign workers beyond prevailing S Pass and work permit quotas for their industry.

Starting May 1, the support will last for three years at a time upon approval, instead of two years.

There will also be more ways to meet the two main qualifying conditions of the scheme.

For instance, firms can choose to commit to sending locals on overseas exposure or leadership programmes to be granted the additional foreign worker quota, aside from pledging to hire or enrolling more locals in training.

Dr Tan said the changes to the work permit regime stem from recommendations made by the Alliance for Action on Business Competitiveness in a report released in November 2024.

"We are actively reviewing our work permit framework to drive transformation, while nuancing it to support different needs as our workforce changes, and updates will be shared in due course," he added.