Canadian Companies Still Hiring Workers

November 3, 2008 12:03 p.m. EST

Toronto, Ontario (AHN) - While a substantial number of Canadian workers in the manufacturing sector have lost their jobs recently, local companies are still hiring employees.

Accounting firm KPMG, for instance, plans to hire 200 Canadians in 2009 as the company recently decided to outsource some marketing, finance and technology jobs from London. It helped that the loonie weakened a bit, plus Toronto offers an educated workforce, high quality of life and lower cost of living compared to Europe.

There are still postings in dailies and the Internet for manpower in the health care, government, infrastructure and accounting sectors, although deciding who to hire now takes a longer time from the employers' end.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Labor announced plans to provide special protection to temporary foreign workers from those employed in the food service industry to those in farms and homes, specially those who had to pay money to secure employment in Canada.

The proposal was prompted by a recent discovery by the ministry that 200 Chinese temporary workers employed at Maple Leaf Foods paid $10,000 to recruiters to secure the necessary working documents.

Among the measures the ministry wants in place are to require the Canadian employer or recruiter to refund money to temporary foreign workers who pay to get a job or if the employee is not getting the proper wage.