Temporary foreign workers in Canada — an under-class of employees?
Over the 2000s, Canada’s migration policy led to developments that aimed at increasing the use of temporary foreign workers. This trend is part of a movement observed in several countries of the Global North whereby the mobility of workers is deemed essential and it is facilitated in the context of a globalized labor market. Despite the growing importance of these workers in the Canadian labor market, little is known about them. The purpose of this article is to address this gap by examining the influence of workers’ socio-professional characteristics and migration/residence status on employment income. Based on data from the 2016 Canadian Census, the analysis reveals that, overall, temporary workers enjoy lower employment income than economic immigrants, whether they are newly established in Canada or have been there longer. In addition, the results show that temporary residence status can become a factor that puts the worker at a disadvantage and stands as a barrier to improving income over time.