The Philippine Consulate in Toronto, has warned Filipino nurses against offers for non-existing jobs and asking them to pay fees for “coaching interviews” and seminars as a prelude to employment.

Consul General Junever Mahilum-West described as a scam the alleged job offers from Toronto hospitals, including the Shouldice Hospital, in which the applicants were asked to pay P3,888 for “coaching interviews” in the Canadian Embassy in Manila as a prelude to a two-day seminar.

Shouldice Hospital in Toronto has denied making any job offers, Mahilum-West said.

She said Shouldice Hospital has received about 100 e-mails and telephone inquiries about the coaching interviews that would lead to employment in its hospital in Thornhill, Ontario, which is not true.

An alliance of migrant organizations said the unemployment problem in the Philippines has turned from bad to worse and government announcement of a plan to stop forced migration of Filipino workers within five years is a sham.

Migrante International said results of a survey by the Social Weather Station last August showed that the unemployment rate had increased to 29.4 percent in the third quarter of 2012 compared to 26.6 percent in May this year.

“The plan of the Aquino administration to stop peddling Filipino workers abroad within five years is wishful thinking in the face of worsening unemployment in the country,” said John Leonard Monterona, Migrante Middle East regional coordinator.

Migrante disputed the claims by the Labor Department that the unemployment problem in the Philippines was due to a job mismatch.

Monterona said about 4,200 Filipinos were leaving daily to look for jobs abroad compared with just 3,200 two years ago.

“The number of Filipinos forced to leave the country will increase to around 3 to 5 percent from the current base figure of 4,200 daily in two to three years time,” Monterona said.

He said the survey results were “a slap on the face of Aquino and his labor honchos.’’