Chinese nannies find well-paid jobs in Canada
Staff Reporter 2013-08-08 11:59
Parents play with their kids at a daycare center in Toronto. (Photo/Xinhua)
Chinese babysitters working in Canada receive good salaries and are also paid for working overtime, working eight hours a day and an average of 22 days every month, according to the Guangzhou Daily in a report on Chinese nationals working abroad.
Yu Fang, who is among one of the first Chinese babysitters to move to Canada and obtain a permanent resident card though legal means, said that the relatively high salary she receives allowed her to buy two homes for her family back in China.
After getting the permanent resident card, she was also able to enroll in a school to further her education. Yu said that she returned to China this year and is currently putting together documents that will allow her family to move to Canada with her.
Alan, another childcare provider, said that the key difference between working as a babysitter in China and in Canada is that there is a maximum weekly working time limit in the North American country. If they work overtime, their employers must pay them 1.5 times their regular wage on Monday to Friday, and double on Saturdays and Sundays. They can even received triple pay if they are asked to work on national holidays, he said, adding that babysitter on average can earn up to 15,000 yuan (US$2,450) a month.
A domestic company that provides housekeeping services said that babysitters need to have at least two years of work experience before they can apply to work abroad, along with a reference letter from former employers. They are also required to have a high school degree or above and a score of 3.5 on an IELTS test to prove their English ability.
Zhou Min, a general manager at the company, said that a big advantage for Chinese workers is that they are willing to work overtime and are diligent. However, babysitting jobs for care providers from China are being challenged by their Filipino counterparts, many of whom had originally worked in Hong Kong, but are now taking offers in Canada as well.
Mo Xiaoying, secretary general of the Guangzhou Home Service Association, pegged housekeeping workers in the city at 300,000-400,000, adding that they generated at least 1 billion yuan (US$163.3 million) a year. He added that 90% of these workers were women. Meanwhile, among 3.6 million households, it was estimated that 20% of families want to hire a housekeeper, the paper said.
