Sherine Toh says her best days at work are when none of the 600 or so staffers at Singapore¡¯s Tung Lok Restaurants quits, though such days are rare.

The Chinese restaurant group is one of the thousands of businesses struggling with a labor crunch caused by curbs on foreign workers that threaten the city-state¡¯s already feeble growth rates.

¡°It has gotten much tougher compared to the old days, five years back,¡± said Toh, who has at least 20 vacancies to fill at any one time as head of human resources. The group closed some outlets because of the shortage.