Are Foreign Workers Taking Away Jobs from Canadians?

If you listen to fringe “white nationalist” media and their political supporters, you might think that’s exactly what is happening. Social media is flooded with content from right-wing, neo-con groups claiming to have “proof” that temporary foreign workers are leaving local Canadians struggling to find employment.

In August of this year, the leader of the Conservative Party and the Premier of British Columbia both endorsed this viewpoint, attributing the lack of jobs squarely to the Temporary Foreign Workers Program (TFWP) and urging the federal government to address this issue.

Is this perspective accurate? Not according to many leading social scientists and immigration lawyers. They argue that the TFWP is designed to address specific skill shortages by allowing employers to hire when no suitable Canadian workers are available. The program mandates that employers demonstrate that no Canadian workers are available for the job and that they are offering the prevailing wage rate. Its intent is not to exert downward pressure on wages, but to provide short-term relief to employers as a last resort.

While the TFWP has seen an increasing reliance on temporary foreign labour across various industries, this does not necessarily mean that local Canadians are being displaced. The program’s expansion in recent years has sparked debate among economists and labour experts, but it isn’t the only factor influencing the job market, and its impact on local job availability is complex and multifaceted.

One potential reason cited by experts is the influx of international students. Their large presence in Canada, combined with government policies allowing students and other non-permanent residents to work more than 20 hours a week during the pandemic, provided employers with additional options, sometimes perceived as more suitable than local hires.

However, as the pandemic eased and economic activity returned to normal, the oversupply of labour greatly exceeded demand, leading to an increase in the youth unemployment rate.

Another significant factor contributing to unemployment among Canadians is the rise of artificial intelligence (AI). AI is reshaping the job market, making it more cost-effective for employers to leverage this technology than to maintain traditional business practices.

Academics from some of Canada’s most prestigious institutions highlight yet another factor that politicians and their constituents often overlook: the “business cycle phenomenon.” Fabian Lange, an economics professor at McGill University and the Canada Research Chair in Labour and Personnel Economics, believes that, due to economic uncertainty stemming from the Canada-U.S. trade war, Canadian businesses are holding onto their current workforce rather than hiring new employees. This situation affects both senior and entry-level positions nationwide.

Recent polling supports some of these views, revealing that while 36% of immigrants believe temporary foreign workers are taking jobs from young people, 47% assert that the program helps fill roles that many Canadians are unwilling to undertake.

A senior professor at McMaster University emphasizes that the TFWP has generated many misconceptions. Although the federal government has made adjustments to the program in recent months, preventing many companies from hiring foreign workers for low-wage jobs, continually fine-tuning the TFWP to respond to every labour market change is not a realistic strategy.