A federal immigration program allowing employers to hire temporary foreign workers does not have a mechanism to systemically assess the program’s impact on the Canadian labour market, according to an internal government report.
The information was provided in a federal immigration department
report released on Oct. 31, which evaluated the
International Mobility Program (IMP). The objective of the evaluation was to assess the program’s performance against its expected outcomes of “timely access to and employment of eligible foreign nationals and its contribution to economic and social benefits to Canada.”
The IMP allows Canadian employers to hire foreign workers on a work permit without having to complete a
Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA). Typically, employers that use temporary foreign workers must obtain an LMIA to show that the position cannot be filled by a Canadian citizen or permanent resident.
The immigration department “does not systematically monitor labour market impacts” of the program, the report said, as first reported by Blacklock’s Reporter.
“Data gaps ... make it difficult to measure the full extent of program benefits relative to risks for unintended consequences, such as displacement of Canadian workers and wage suppression,” it said.
The IMP “is built on the assumption that benefits to Canada from the facilitation of select foreign workers exceed any potential harm to the domestic labour market,” the report said. “However, document review and key informants pointed out that labour market impacts are not monitored.”
The report noted that exemptions from providing LMIA assessments result in some inconsistency with “commitments to consider Canadian workers first.” For example, the government’s
2015 budget called for prioritizing Canadians for available jobs and using foreign workers as a “last and limited resort.” Yet, the use of temporary workers has significantly increased, largely through the IMP, the report said.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) issued over
one million work permits under the program in the first three quarters of 2023—nearly double the number during the same period in 2022.
The report said while “many LMIA exemptions under the IMP are thought to help attract and retain top talent in Canada,” a review of internal and external documents found criticisms of the potential impact on the labour market.
When asked if the government takes other actions to monitor the impact of foreign workers on the labour market, an IRCC spokesperson pointed to measures recently introduced for employers hiring temporary foreign workers in low-wage jobs. These changes,
announced in August, include a nationwide 10 percent cap on the number of low-wage workers an employer can hire, with exceptions for the health care, construction, and food processing sectors, where the cap is 20 percent. In addition, all LMIAs approved for low-wage positions will be limited to a one-year work duration.
On Oct. 24, Immigration Minister Marc Miller
announced a reduction in the number of temporary foreign worker permits in part of a broader plan to limit the growth of new permanent residents.
Previously, the Liberal government planned to accept 500,000 new permanent residents in 2025 and maintain that number in 2026. The target has now been revised to allow 395,000 for 2025, with a further decline to 365,000 by 2027.
The government said the new limits were being introduced to alleviate pressures on housing, infrastructure, and social services.
The decrease in temporary foreign workers and new immigration targets comes amid
growing resistance to record-high immigration levels in Canada. A recent survey by the
Environics Institute found that 58 percent of adult Canadians polled say the current immigration rate is excessive, which represents a 14-point increase from last year.
