Photo credit: Immigration Canada Services
The Temporary Foreign Worker Program is helping Canada fill health-care staffing gaps and offering most participants a path to permanent residency, according to a recent study by Statistics Canada.
The Tyee reports that the study shows nearly 60 per cent of temporary foreign workers in healthcare transitioned to permanent residency. More than half of the workers stayed in the sector five years after obtaining permanent status.
The retention and transition rate in health care is much higher than average for the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, according to report co-author and Statistics Canada immigration researcher Feng Hou.
He said, “Most of the [temporary foreign workers] still work in health care. What that means is that they can make a long-term contribution to the workforce.”
Stacey Fitzsimmons, a University of Victoria associate professor of international business, said the higher rate of transition to permanent residency suggests the Temporary Foreign Worker Program is an “appropriate and effective” strategy to address health-care worker shortages.
The program is one of several immigration programs intended to help address gaps in Canada’s labour market. It makes up 18 per cent and 10 per cent of Canada’s agriculture workforce and food and accommodation services workforce, respectively.
