From September twenty sixth, some census metropolitan areas (CMAs) in Canada will stop to have the ability to submit Labour Market Affect Assessments (LMIAs) to the Short-term Overseas Employee Program’s (TFWP) Low-Wage stream. In CMAs with an unemployment charge of 6% or above, Employment and Social Growth Canada (ESDC) can not course of LMIAs within the Low-Wage stream. Nonetheless, no extra details about which cities could be affected is accessible.
The company does level out that there will probably be an exemption for each seasonal and non-seasonal work within the building and healthcare industries, plus the first agricultural, meals processing, and seafood processing sectors associated to meals safety. Moreover, the TFWP will solely enable companies to rent as much as 10% of their whole workforce, and staff employed beneath the Low-Wage stream will solely be capable of work for a most of 1 12 months as a substitute of two years.
Verdict from the minister of employment
In keeping with Randy Boissonnault, Minister of Employment, Workforce Growth, and Official Languages, Canada has been relying an excessive amount of on this system. He claims that when competent Canadians couldn’t fill such positions, they created the Short-term Overseas Employee program to alleviate labor shortages. Nonetheless, extra Canadians now meet the necessities to fill accessible jobs. As such, the changes will prioritize Canadian staff and assure that this system satisfies their financial calls for.
The Labour Drive Survey signifies that from April 2023, the unemployment charge in Canada has been progressively rising. As of June 2024, the present unemployment charge was 6.4%. It quantities to 1.4 million jobless people. The Minister asserts that these further limitations would help in removing TFWP misuse and fraud. To ensure that current staff can regulate to altering calls for within the office, he additionally factors out that Canadian companies ought to retrain and upskill their workforce. It reduces the dependency on the TFWP to prioritize extra on Canadian residents.
What to anticipate from the ESDC?
Over the next 90 days, ESDC will assess the TFWP’s Excessive-Wage stream. In keeping with the Ministry, this may increasingly result in changes to present LMIA purposes for unfilled posts, changes to sectoral exceptions, and even the rejection of processing new LMIA purposes, together with these for rural areas.
The TFWP is a well-liked choice for immigrants looking for work expertise in Canada. To take part in this system, employers ought to submit an LMIA to ESDC indicating whether or not using a overseas nationwide would profit, neutralize, or hurt Canada’s labor market and financial system. At present, the TFWP has two streams: low-wage and high-wage. Jobs that pay under the median hourly charge in a province are throughout the low-salary class.