Minister Boissonnault reducing the number of temporary foreign workers in Canada

News release

August 26, 2024          Gatineau, Quebec             Employment and Social Development Canada

The Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) Program is designed as an extraordinary measure to be used only when qualified Canadians and permanent residents are not able to fill job vacancies.

Unfortunately, the TFW Program has been used to circumvent hiring talented workers in Canada. That is why, earlier this month, Minister Boissonnault brought together business organizations to inform them that the Government of Canada was considering reductions in access to the Program, as well as strengthened compliance measures.

Given current labour market conditions, and to further reduce the reliance of Canadian employers on the Program, Randy Boissonnault, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages, announced today that the Government is taking further action to weed out TFW Program misuse and fraud.

In response to the current employment environment, the following changes will be implemented, effective by September 26, 2024:

• The Government of Canada will refuse to process Labour Market Impact Assessments (LMIAs) in the Low-Wage stream, applicable in census metropolitan areas with an unemployment rate of 6% or higher. Exceptions will be granted for seasonal and non-seasonal jobs in food security sectors (primary agriculture, food processing and fish processing), as well as construction and healthcare;
• Employers will be allowed to hire no more than 10% of their total workforce through the TFW Program. This maximum employment percentage will be applied to the Low-Wage stream and is a further reduction from the March 2024 reduction. Exceptions will be granted for seasonal and non-seasonal jobs in food security sectors (primary agriculture, food processing and fish processing), as well as healthcare and construction; and
• The maximum duration of employment for workers hired through the Low-Wage stream will be reduced to one year (from two years).

Employers in Canada have a responsibility to invest in the full range of workers available in this country, such as young people, newcomers, and persons with disabilities, who are too often an untapped economic resource in Canada. They must also invest in retraining or upskilling to ensure that those they currently employ can adapt to the economy of the future. The Government of Canada will continue to work with business and organizations to help them find the workers they need and ensure that Canadian workers have the opportunities they deserve, by providing supports for training and education.

The Government of Canada will continue to monitor labour market conditions and introduce further adjustments to the Program as needed in the coming months to ensure that only employers with demonstrable labour market needs have access to the Program. Within the next 90 days, further review will be undertaken of the Program, which could result in changes to the High-Wage Stream, to existing LMIA applications for which positions have not been filled, to sectoral exceptions, or refusing to process other LMIA applications, including for rural areas.

Quotes

“The Temporary Foreign Worker program was designed to address labour market shortages when qualified Canadians were not able to fill those roles. Right now, we know that there are more Canadians qualified to fill open positions. The changes we are making today will prioritize Canadians workers and ensures Canadians can trust the program is meeting the needs of our economy.”

– Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages, Randy Boissonnault 

Quick facts

On August 20, 2024, the Government of Canada announced the approval of a proposal by the Government of Quebec for a temporary freeze on the approval of new Temporary Foreign Workers in the low-wage stream in Montreal. Effective September 3rd, 2024, processing of Labour Market Impact Assessment applications will be discontinued for six months for job offers located in the Montreal region with wages below $27.47/hour, which is the current Quebec median hourly wage. 

According to the latest data from the Labour Force Survey, the overall unemployment rate has increased to 6.4% following two consecutive monthly increases in May and June. Canada’s unemployment rate increased 0.2 percentage points to 6.4% in June 2024. The unemployment rate trended up since April 2023, rising 1.3 percentage points over the period. In June 2024, there were 1.4 million unemployed people, an increase of 42,000 (+3.1%) from the previous month. 

As the labour market has loosened, the Government of Canada began rolling back the pandemic measures aimed at addressing an extraordinary labour shortage. Beginning in October 2023, those adjustments have included gradual reductions to the validity period of Labour Market Impact Assessments (LMIAs) from 18 months to 6 months, as well as to the cap on percentage of temporary foreign workers from 30% to 20%, both necessary steps toward bringing the program back to pre-pandemic levels.