International Organization for Migration (IOM)

Improving Access to Labour market Information for migrants and employers
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Finally, we would point out that not all foreigners entering Canada to work temporarily
enter through these immigration programmes. There are several alternative channels
through which workers enter and work in Canada temporarily, which may be
considered analogous to “posted workers” in Europe; workers employed by a company
in one member country which has a contract to work in another country. Occupations
included in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the General
Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) permit employees of foreign companies
doing business in Canada to enter and remain in Canada for up to 24 months in
some cases without applying for an LMO. NAFTA, which applies to citizens of the
USA and Mexico, permits business people working in 1 of 60 prescribed occupations
to accept pre-arranged employment in their profession at a Canadian enterprise, for
a temporary period of time that varies based on the agreement. Similar provisions
exist for signatories to the GATS in a prescribed list of professions.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade also has a number
of reciprocal agreements called International Experience Canada with dozens of
countries in Europe, South America and South Asia, that allow young professionals
aged 18–35 from one of those countries to live and work in Canada for up to one
year under certain conditions. This is mentioned for completeness and to provide
some comparison to posted workers in the EU, which do not have an exact analog
in Canada; we could not thoroughly discuss these workers without a detailed review
of dozens of multi- and bilateral agreements, which is outside the scope of this
report. Additionally, workers entering Canada through one of these channels would
normally have pre-existing or long-held connections to the Canadian labour market
or an international company with significant business in Canada, and would not face
the informational challenges discussed in this report.
Trends in Canadian immigration
There are three immigration trends of particular relevance to this report. First, while
Canada has always admitted a relatively large number of immigrants, the level has
increased over the past few decades, and a large proportion of this increase is in the
category of economic immigrants. Second, immigrants entering Canada tend to be
university-educated and skilled, whether they are entering Canada as permanent
residents or temporary workers. Third, the labour market outcomes of immigrants
within the first five years of entering Canada declined at the start of the last decade,
and are generally below those of Canadians with similar levels of education. This
third point could well point to gaps in labour market information.
In regard to the first trend, Figure 11.3 shows that the relative proportion of
economic immigrants145 has increased since 1986. The level of immigration has also
145 Note that since the economic immigrants category includes spouses and dependent children of principal
applicants immigrating at the same time (while family class refers only to family members immigrating
after a principal applicant enters Canada, begins working, and sponsors a family member’s application),
not all economic immigrants are destined for the labour market. The number of permanent residents
entering Canada with the intention to work has been between 110,000 and 150,000 over the past 10
years, although often more choose to work after arriving.