Can Tho: more workers go to work in RoK

Can Tho (VNA) – The Mekong delta city of Can Tho has seen an increasing number of Vietnamese labourers going to the Republic of Korea as guest workers through joint programmes between the two countries.

In the first nine months of this year, Can Tho sent 252 workers abroad, representing 102.8 percent of its yearly plan. Of the workers, the RoK market received 102 labourers, up 18 percent from the same period last year.

Nguyen Thi Bich Van, Deputy Head of the Can Tho Employment Service Centre, attributed to the increase to the RoK’s new policies such as allowing foreign workers to work for five years and returning to work for a second time in the case of certain jobs unlike in the past.  

The costs involved in going to the RoK as a guest worker is lower compared to other countries while workers earn an average of 1,500 USD a month, she said.

Besides, the demand for guest workers in the East Asian country is high, she added.

Especially, the RoK and Vietnam have cooperated to carry out a programme chain on seasonal guest farm worker in Guangwon from the beginning of 2108.

Under the programme, Gangwon province has hired Vietnamese aged 30-55 to harvest vegetables and fruits at large-scale farms in the Korean locality in a period of three months.

Can Tho has so far sent 60 farm workers under the programme which continues until the end of 2019, and the workers earned 75 million VND – 100 million VND (3,200 - 4,300 USD) during the period. 

Van said the programme does not require the workers to have high academic qualifications like others. They only need to have studied until sixth grade.

The city subsidises their airfares and health examination costs by half before they leave for the RoK, she said, adding that workers with financial difficulties can get a mortgage at a low interest rate, she said.

The workers who have been to the RoK through the programme have said unanimously that working conditions there are good. Many of them also had their contracts renewed for further three months.

Chau Hong Thai, Deputy Director of the municipal Department of Labour, Invalids, and Social Affairs, said his department will continue to provide vocational training and Korean language courses to improve the quality of candidates from the city.

It has instructed vocational training schools to coordinate with the Employment Service Centre and with companies to organise programmes for orienting students to work abroad, he said.

Local-level authorities should ensure that recruitment companies provide vocational and Korean language training for candidates before sending them to the RoK to work, he said.

To prevent Can Tho workers from working illegally in the RoK, the department has undertaken programmes to educate workers and their families in complying with the law, he said.

District, commune and ward administrations in the city have been told to call on local residents and tell them to persuade their children working in the RoK to return on schedule, he said.

If any district is found to have many residents working illegally in the RoK, the department will no longer select workers from there, he warned. - VNA