Temporary foreign workers need more paths to immigration, experts say

TORONTO –

As resort and restaurant homeowners more and more flip to momentary overseas employees to fill labour gaps, there are rising calls to present these employees extra paths to everlasting residency.

“If there are particular occupations where there’s a real need and we’ve become dependent on temporary foreign workers… we should include them in a permanent system,” mentioned Naomi Alboim, a senior coverage fellow at Toronto Metropolitan University.

While the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the labour image for the lodging and meals service trade, the usage of momentary overseas employees within the sector has been rising for years. According to Statistics Canada, their share of the workforce greater than doubled from 4.4 per cent in 2010 to 10.9 per cent in 2020.

That share is anticipated to maintain rising as firms wrestle to fill tens of 1000’s of jobs amid document low unemployment, pandemic-accelerated early retirements and employees leaving for different sectors, mentioned Adrienne Foster, vice-president of coverage and public affairs for the Hotel Association of Canada.

Around 90 per cent of the affiliation’s member employers have elevated wages to try to appeal to extra employees domestically, and lots of have elevated advantages, growth alternatives and different perks, however they’re nonetheless struggling to draw candidates, she mentioned.

“COVID did kind of precipitate a decreased appetite for those types of jobs,” mentioned Foster.

“I think at the end of the day the demographics of the Canadian workforce mean that we have to work internationally,” she mentioned.

Over-reliance on momentary overseas employees

To tackle these gaps, the federal authorities rolled out momentary measures in April 2022, permitting employers within the lodging and meals service sector, amongst different sectors dealing with labour shortages, to rent as much as 30 per cent of their workforce by means of the Temporary Foreign Worker program for low-wage positions. The momentary measures had been prolonged in March 2023 till the tip of October.

But as use of the TFW program turns into extra widespread, so is criticism of what some name an over-reliance on momentary overseas employees, with issues in regards to the dangers these employees could face.

Temporary overseas employee permits are often tied to the employer that introduced them into the nation, making employees reluctant to report abuses, mentioned Derek Johnstone, particular assistant to the nationwide president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union.

“It puts the entire onus on the migrant,” mentioned Johnstone, although he mentioned the union has had some success in serving to employees display employer abuse and get open work permits consequently.

Alboim mentioned a dependence on momentary overseas employees also can disincentivize employers from growing wages and advantages, enhancing working situations, and even automating extra.

At the identical time as the federal government opens the door to extra momentary overseas labour, it is also ramping up immigration, primarily in higher-skilled sectors, mentioned Alboim, a former Ontario Deputy Minister of Immigration. And as a result of many momentary overseas employees are getting into the nation for what are thought of lower-skilled jobs, they’ve fewer alternatives to transition to everlasting residency, she mentioned.

“We have developed, in my view, a really bifurcated system,” she mentioned. “High-skilled, permanent. Low-skilled, temporary. And I don’t think that’s healthy for the economy, and I don’t think that’s healthy for the country.”

Recent adjustments to the choice system for financial immigrants embody just a few extra occupations from classes thought of lower-skill, which is an effective begin, she mentioned.

‘We want an actual immigration technique,’ chief says

The restaurant sector wants to extend hiring of home employees and hiring by means of immigration, whereas additionally having the choice of momentary overseas employees to fill in gaps or seasonal demand, mentioned Olivier Bourbeau, vice-president of federal affairs with trade group Restaurants Canada.

“We don’t only need temporary foreign workers, we need a real immigration strategy,” he mentioned.

The present system is two-tiered, Bourbeau agreed, saying he’d prefer to see adjustments made to create extra mobility for momentary employees inside firms and within the trade to probably assist them develop into eligible for everlasting residency.

Foster on the Hotels Association can be supportive of extra paths to everlasting residency for momentary overseas employees within the hospitality sector, akin to by means of the Express Entry program.

“I think the biggest challenge we have right now with our immigration system is that it really favours education,” she mentioned. “There’s a huge mismatch between the people who are coming in and the job vacancies that are available.”

Instead of the present patchwork of difficult-to-navigate federal and provincial packages and pilots, the federal financial immigration system ought to be expanded to incorporate these employees, who’re filling ongoing labour market wants, mentioned Alboim.

“If the temporary workers coming in are truly doing temporary work … we need that flexibility in our system,” she mentioned. “But to fill ongoing jobs? I think it’s unconscionable.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed June 16, 2023.