Canada is intensifying its efforts in hiring more temporary workers from Nigeria and other countries by making changes to its Temporary Foreign Workforce Solutions Road Map.
Randy Boissonnault, minister of employment, workforce development and disability inclusion of Canada made the announcement on Thursday, according to CIC news, a Canadian immigration website.
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“Employers in seven selected sectors (food manufacturing, wood product manufacturing, furniture and related product manufacturing, accommodation and food services, construction, hospitals, and nursing and residential care facilities) may continue to hire up to 30 percent of their workforce in low-wage positions,” it said.
It added that the duration cap of employment of two years will be upheld for positions under the provincial or territorial minimum wage and that Labour Market Impact Assessments will now have a reduced validity from the previous 18-month maximum, to a 12-month maximum.
“Effective January 1, 2024, employers will be required to perform annual reviews of their temporary foreign worker’s wages, to ensure that they are comparable to the prevailing wage rates for their given occupation and region of work.”
The extended measures are set to be in place until August 30, 2024—with the provision to adjust them according to labour market and economic conditions as needed.
The Canadian federal government in 2022 announced an aggressive plan to take in 500,000 immigrants a year by 2025, with almost 1.5 million new immigrants coming to the country over the next three years.
Data from US Census Bureau International Data Base, a global demographic product, show that the estimated working age (15-64) for Canada is projected to rise marginally by 4.9 percent to 25.8 million by 2050 from 24.6 million in 2022, while that of Nigeria will double by 107.4 percent to 259.9 million.
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Last year, the country landed 437,120 Permanent Residents, a nearly eight percent increase from the total number of PRs in 2021.
