Can Tho (VNA) – The Mekong delta city of Can Tho has seen anincreasing number of Vietnamese labourers going to the Republic of Korea asguest 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 18percent from the same period last year.

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

The costs involved in going to the RoK as a guest worker is lower compared toother 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, sheadded.

Especially, the RoK and Vietnam have cooperated to carry out a programme chainon 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 ina period of three months.

Can Tho has so far sent 60 farm workers under the programme which continues untilthe 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 academicqualifications like others. They only need to have studied until sixth grade.

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

The workers who have been to the RoK through the programme have saidunanimously that working conditions there are good. Many of them also had theircontracts 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 providevocational training and Korean language courses to improve the quality ofcandidates from the city.

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

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

To prevent Can Tho workers from working illegally in the RoK, the departmenthas undertaken programmes to educate workers and their families in complyingwith the law, he said.

District, commune and ward administrations in the city have been told to callon local residents and tell them to persuade their children working in the RoKto 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