WILLEMSTAD - The Curaçao government is imposing a stop, or a moratorium, on new applications for work permits from foreign workers. These are people in unskilled, low-skilled, and other professions where there is a surplus on the local labor market.
According to the government, the closure of the oil refinery and the COVID-19 measures taken show that the social economic situation of the population has seriously deteriorated. Forty percent of the local population is unemployed. Before new employees are brought in from abroad, an attempt must first be made to get the local people to work, according to the government.