Faced with a serious labor shortage crisis, Portugal has turned to Morocco to recruit 400 agricultural workers ahead of its harvest season.
Portugal’s Minister of Labor Ana Mendes Godinho on Tuesday announced the launch of a pilot recruitment project after a meeting in Lisbon with Morocco’s Minister of Economic Inclusion and Employment Youness Sekkouri.
Speaking to reporters, Godinho said that she had “a fruitful meeting” with her Moroccan counterpart, adding that they “have decided to launch a pilot project that benefits all parties.”
Training and responsibilities
Selected Moroccan workers are expected to undergo training and learn Portuguese before moving to Portuguese fields. The Moroccan minister Seekouri welcomed the new partnership stating it represents a “new generation” of agreements for “decent employment” with full respect for workers’ rights.
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While details on the distribution and tasks assigned for chosen seasonal workers were not detailed in the announcement, Moroccan labor is expected to harvest the well-known Portuguese wine grapes in Dourou valley during one of the “lowest -yielding harvests ever.”
Labor shortage
Earlier this month, Portugal passed a decree to speed up long-stay visa processes for citizens of the Community of Portuguese language countries (CPLP) to address the labor shortage.
Welcoming the migration reforms, Minister Godinho said that the decree “is absolutely fundamental in the organization of regular and orderly flows of immigration,” adding that it helps address the “urgent needs of human resources” to revitalize the local economy
In January, CaixaBank Research similarly reported an increase in the number of unfilled job vacancies in Portugal, stating that the growth stands in contrast to the strong recovery in economic activity.
With Portugal’s unfilled job vacancies reaching 42,800 by the end of 2021 after a steady increase since the end of 2020, the trade, industry, administrative, and ICT sectors are most impacted by the labor shortage.
SOURCE: Morocco news
