The sectors which allow employment of foreign workers are services, manufacturing, construction, plantation, agriculture as well as mining and quarrying, he said.

He said the matter was decided at the 16th Meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Foreign Workers and Illegal Immigrants on Tuesday.

“Foreign workers are allowed to work in the service sector, among them as cooks in restaurants, cleaning and cleansing, island resorts, hotels, spa and reflexology, caddies and cargo handlers at ports and airports,” he said in a statement here today.

In this regard, Alwi stressed that foreign workers were only limited to fill vacancies shunned by locals.

“The government is still giving priority to locals to fill positions and specified that employment at supervisory level is reserved for locals,” he said.