[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by ken0042

Talk to most TFWs and they will tell you they are not slaves. They can return home if they want, however the living conditions here are not just "better", but considerably better. That- and they not only make enough money to live here, they send a lot of money home to help their families.

The fact that most of us Canadians would not consider their wage to be above slave labour rates is a testament to how much they are needed. Most people would not be willing to work for that wage, because we need a bigger home and more stuff.

Sorry, Ken, but it's not a bigger home and more 'stuff' that is motivating people to pursue higher wages.

It's a climate of nearly impossible living wages that make minimum wage jobs unacceptable for most.

Take this in BC for example, where the unemployment rate rose several percentage points after the increase in TFWs:

More than 40 percent of British Columbians live paycheque to paycheque. The average consumer debt in Vancouver is the highest in Canada at $40,174 (excluding mortgage).

B.C. consumers are now borrowing to meet daily living expenses and that should be a big worry, because many families may be one interest rate hike away from teetering over the fiscal precipice.

Too many British Columbians—particularly young people—don't see a future for themselves in B.C. They might be able to find a job in their field, may even be able to make ends meet at the end of the month, but the idea of owning a home and raising a family is moving further and further out of their reach.

No wonder British Columbians react with guffaws when provincial cabinet ministers boldly step in front of the mic and try to explain the latest rate hike or premium increase away as just “a few dollars a month more”.

In the past year, British Columbians have seen a few of those “only a few dollars a month more” hikes, whether it's at B.C. Hydro, ICBC, or B.C. Ferries. Just last month, MSP premiums rose by “only $2.75 per month more” to $69.25 for an individual.

Frankly, it rings a bit hollow what you're saying. No one making minimum wage is looking for a bigger house. They are looking for a house, period. They aren't looking for more stuff, they are looking for the basics necessities, and are going into debt to get them.

“A temporary foreign worker program is unlikely to be a comprehensive solution to labour shortages,” said Dominique Gross, a professor in the school of public policy at Simon Fraser University.

“Although there are clear benefits to the economy if short-term excess labour demand is filled as quickly as possible, the costs of a weakly designed TFW program can be quite high in the medium term.”

Gross came to this conclusion in a recent report that was published by Toronto-based C.D. Howe Institute.

In the report, titled Temporary Foreign Workers in Canada: Are They Really Filling Labour Shortages?, Gross said the federal TFW program clearly has the capacity to generate adverse effects, which need to be minimized by regulating employers.

Gross found that between 2002 and 2013, the federal government eased the hiring conditions of TFWs several times. These policy changes were a response to a reported labour shortage in some occupations, especially in western Canada.

..

To assess the impact of federal government policy, Gross focused on reforms in Alberta and B.C. that aimed to accelerate the process of processing LMO applications and reduce the backlog in certain occupations.

As a result, the number of TFWs employed in Canada jumped to 338,000 in 2012, from 101,000 in 2002.

Gross said these policy changes occurred even though there was little empirical evidence of labour shortages.

More importantly, when there were large backlogs in LMO applications in 2007, the unemployment rates for domestic workers with only some high school education was 7.3 per cent in Alberta and 8.4 per cent in B.C.

In September 2007, an Expedited Labour Market Opinion (E-LMO) pilot project was introduced in Alberta and B.C., in response to pressure from employers.

When the E-LMO policy was fully in place in 2009, the unemployment rate for these low skilled workers hit 13.4 per cent in Alberta and 15.5 per cent in B.C.

Domestic workers with high school graduation experienced similar changes in unemployment rates, although at slightly lower levels.

In 2009, total unemployment for all workers in Alberta was 6.6 per cent and in B.C. it was 7.7 per cent.

In addition, Alberta and B.C. generally experienced more variability in unemployment than the rest of Canada.

For example, before 2007 unemployment rates in Alberta and B.C. declined by an average of 2.9 per cent in the rest of Canada this figure fell by one per cent.

After 2007, unemployment increased by 3.4 per cent in Alberta and B.C., compared to 1.4 per cent in the rest of the country.

As a result, on average, the variation in the unemployment rate during the whole period was 2.3 per cent in the rest of Canada and 6.2 per cent in Alberta and B.C.

This finding suggests that the E-LMO project potentially accelerated the rise in unemployment by about 3.9 percentage points in Alberta and B.C. between 2007 and 2010.

http://www.journalofcommerce.com/Lab...am-JOC060391W/

This is bad for all of us.