China to Hire 10,000 Pinoy Workers and Teachers, Higher Pay Expected

Budget Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno recently confirmed reports that China plans to hire 10,000 Filipino workers and teachers to work in mainland China, with higher pay expected as this is a government-to-government arrangement.

According to Diokno, this recent development is just one of the economic benefits the Philippines is receiving, thanks to the state visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping and the closer relationship between the two countries.

Photo credit: The Summit Express

As the two countries have agreed that this would be a government-to-government arrangement (G2G), there would be no third parties involved in the transactions, such as recruitment agencies which are often the ones that Pinoys turn to if they want to work abroad.

Because of this, the workers are expected to receive more pay than if they had gone through the usual way of finding employment abroad through recruitment agencies.

In fact, the fear of some people is that those who are working now in Hong Kong will now transfer to [mainland] China because the terms will be much much higher,” Diokno said.

At the start of the program, China is hoping to hire 10,000 OFWs, particularly domestic helpers who will be working for expatriates in Guangdong, Beijing, and Shanghai. But more workers would probably be hired in the future.

Aside from domestic helpers, China is also hoping to hire Filipino teachers to teach English language to Chinese students.

But because the program wants to ensure that there will be no shortage of teachers in public schools in the Philippines, only teachers working in private institutions will be hired for this program. Such is specifically stipulated in the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the Philippine-China memorandum of agreement (MOA) that was signed last November 8; though this was only announced last Monday, November 19.

The successful applicants will be teaching in colleges and other tertiary educational institutions in China.

The number of Filipino teachers of English language that can enter China under this MOA shall be based on the actual situation of market supply and demand determined through negotiation between the Philippines and China,” the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) wrote in a statement.