April 24, 2008

Non-residential construction drives rise in temporary worker permits

VINCE VERSACE

staff writer

The number of temporary foreign workers in construction is on the rise but they still are only a small portion of the industry’s workforce, finds a Construction Sector Council [CSC] report.

“There has been so much talk about temporary foreign workers [TFW] and it is evident we need a tool to help both the people bringing in the workers and the workers themselves,” says George Gritziotis, CSC executive director.

“We can now develop a step-by-step guide for the industry and the workers about what needs to be considered.”

Temporary Foreign Workers in the Canadian Construction Industry: An Analysis of Programs and Mechanisms, is the recently released study by the CSC which explored TFW in the Canadian construction industry.

“What we do see is that they are an investment to an immediate need and only three provinces are really using the program,” says Gritziotis.

“The TFW program clearly is not the only game in town in other provinces.”

TFW accounted for a very small part of the total construction workforce in 2005.

Of the more than 1 million people working in construction, about 3,000, or less than half of one per cent, were TFW.

Construction workers also form a small portion of the total TFW in Canada.

Of the 99,141 TFW who entered Canada in 2005, 3,000 worked in construction.

Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario are the main drivers of construction industry TFW, the study reveals.

In 2005, Ontario had 1,009 TFW, British Columbia 882 and Alberta 749; all other provinces had a combined total of 815.

The cost to bring a TFW in ranged from $12,000 to $18,000.

The top three occupations for TFW work permits in Alberta were 127 for insulators, 62 for carpenters and 58 for trades helpers and labourers. In British Columbia 111 TFW work permits were granted for carpenters, 94 for residential and commercial installers and 73 for steamfitters/pipefitters. In Ontario 331 TFW work permits were granted for steamfitters/pipefitters, 131 carpenters and 83 for industrial mechanics.

Some of the suggested improvements to the TFW program in the report are: speeding up and simplifying the existing application processes; improving the government’s understanding of the construction industry’s needs; increasing monitoring and enforcement of existing rules; and adjusting the overall immigration process to recognize the value of the skilled trades.

The highest use of TFW in construction was in ICI with 693 TFW in 2004 and 1,186 in 2005. Construction management occupations across all categories had 302 TFW in 2004 and 425 in 2005.

Of the 4,851 TFWs who worked in the Canadian construction industry in 2004 and 2005, 4,351 came from 20 countries and 2,977 of these workers came from just five countries.

Visit www.csc-ca.org to view the entire study.

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