Canada recently made big changes to its Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP). These changes are meant to make the job market more fair and put more emphasis on hiring Canadians. Here is a list of the most important changes:
Increased Median Wages for Work Permits: As of April 2, 2024, the minimum wage level for all provinces and regions that want to hire temporary foreign workers has gone up. This changes the type of Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) that a company needs to apply for. The LMIA process shows that a real effort is being made to hire Canadians before hiring foreign workers. In the past, companies paying less than the median hourly wage were in the low-wage LMIA stream, which had an easier application process. The median wage has gone up [see official source for data on wage increases by province]. This means that many jobs may move to the higher-paying LMIA stream, which has stricter standards.
Focus on Prioritizing Domestic Recruitment: As of May 1, 2024, the TFWP will be putting in place stricter rules to make sure that real efforts are made to fill jobs with Canadians first. The LMIA will only be good for six months instead of a year, so employers will have to actively look for domestic candidates more often. Furthermore, the highest percentage of a company’s staff that can be hired through the low-wage stream drops from 30% to 20%, except for construction and healthcare, which are both having severe labor shortages. This gives businesses a reason to offer higher wages to get good workers from within the country. Lastly, employers must show that they have tried all other choices before using the TFWP. This includes hiring asylum seekers with valid work permits.
These changes show how Canada’s job market is changing. The TFWP is still very important for meeting certain skill gaps, but the government wants to make sure it works with domestic hiring instead of replacing it. Higher wage requirements can help both temporary foreign workers and Canadians by bringing in skilled professionals and raising wages generally. A more fair and balanced job market is made possible by the tighter LMIA process that focuses on hiring people from within the country.
More Things to Think About: It will be interesting to see how these changes affect different business types. Will the smaller number of low-wage stream quotas hurt some industries? Will a stricter LMIA process make it take longer to fill important jobs? We will have to wait and see how well the updated TFWP balances bringing in talented people and giving priority to domestic chances.
