MANILA, Philippines – Job opportunities await many Filipinos planning to work in Canada with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Canadian government.
With the MOU, Labor undersecretary Danilo Cruz said that the signing of the agreement will open possible work prospects for Filipino workers as the Canadian government is looking at the Philippines and other Asian countries to fill out at least 14,000 job vacancies in Saskatchewan to keep up with the labor demands of its still growing economy.
“Over the last four years, the Philippines has become the largest source country for both immigrants and temporary workers for Canada, overtaking China and India as the traditional sources,” he said at the sidelines of the signing held in Makati City on Monday.
Cruz, together with the contingent from Saskatchewan province of Canada led by its Premier, Brad Wall, signed the MOU which aims to upgrade the provision of the previous MOU between both countries in 2006.
According to the Canadian official, some employers from Saskatchewan, which is one of the economic powerhouses in Canada, are currently here in the country to hire workers for an initial 150 job vacancies.
However, he noted that they expect to hire more workers in the coming months.
“Not very long ago, we have a hundred (migrants) per year. Now we have about 3,000 per year and we still have a labor shortage,” Wall added.
The updated MOU will contain the following new provisions: identification of cooperation priorities; exchange of information; prohibition of charging of recruitment fees to workers; enjoining the employers recruiting overseas Filipinos workers (OFW) outside the Philippines to course hiring in the nearest Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO); enforcement of regulations to protect workers.
Among the most in-demand jobs in Canada are in the fields of business, natural and applied sciences, health, social science, education, government service, trade, transportation, oil and gas processing and manufacturing.
“If you go in a website called Saskjobs.Ca today there are usually around 10,000 unfilled jobs. So in order to keep our economy growing we need to focus on the labor shortage and a part of that is international recruitment,” Wall said.
He added that many Canadian employers prefer Filipinos because of their fluency in the English language and commendable work ethics.
“Our employers value the strong work ethic and high literacy skills of Filipino workers, and we will need them to meet the ambitious targets we have outlined in our Growth Plan,” the Canadian official said. –Ferdinand G. Patinio, Philippine News Agency
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