For temporary migrant workers in Canada, a change in job or residency status could mean deskilling and degradation of working conditions, according to a study recently published in the academic journal Labour.

Jason Foster, the study’s lead author, is a professor of human resources and labour relations at Athabasca University. The paper was published after researchers interviewed 148 temporary workers and 63 key informants like migrant representatives. The workers had all immigrated to Canada on a temporary status; 64.9 per cent were part of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. 

At some point, each worker lost or changed residency status. 

Foster said he wanted to know what would happen over time to these workers the longer they stayed in the country and the longer they went without status. 

“The overall conclusions of the study are quite bleak,” he said in an interview with CBC News. “The longer people are without status, the worse their economic situation becomes.”

This shows the need to have a clear pathway for workers to regain status after losing it, Foster said.

“They are deskilled and degraded over time,” he said.

Foster wrote that, as things are currently set up, Canada benefits from the labour of temporary workers, while excluding them from the benefits of permanent residency.  

They are deskilled and degraded over time.– Jason Foster, study author

The study measured the precarity of labour and status. There is residency status, like a temporary foreign worker permit, which will expire. The study found many such workers don’t want to leave the country after that expiration, and will find a different status, like as a student, for example.

As time passes, and statuses change, their situation becomes increasingly precarious, Foster said.

Sorell Sonara, owner of the immigration consulting firm Express Lane Immigration, works with many temporary foreign workers. He said people are stuck in a loop of trying to keep the job they have, while worrying about renewal of their work permit one year later. 

Sonara said in his experience, the vast majority of workers coming in want to get permanent residency. 

“People will have to do what they need to do to survive,” he said, noting that could include working cash jobs that pay less than minimum wage. But even those can be hard to find. 

“People living here can’t find jobs normally — and I’m talking about Canadians,” Sonara said, pointing to the current unemployment rate.

Sonara said people should be aware that the Temporary Foreign Worker Program is just that: temporary. 

“People should come here expecting it to be temporary,” he said. 

In a statement to CBC News, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada said workers can apply to extend their temporary status before it expires, and up to 90 days after expiration.

The department noted it is also running a pilot from June to August to alert migrants as to when their status is about to expire or has expired, and to advise on what actions they need to take. 

IRCC also said the federal government takes the safety and dignity of workers very seriously, and temporary workers have the same rights and protections as Canadian citizens and permanent residents.

The department added that the government has “long prioritized pathways to permanent residence for people already living and working here” and that Canada’s 2026-2028 Immigration Levels Plan focuses on transitioning those who are already skilled and in the country to permanent residency. 

The federal government’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program specifically is designed to respond to changes in the labour market, IRCC said, adding it’s meant to be an “extraordinary and temporary measure” to fill labour shortages. 

Deskilling 

Foster and the other researchers who worked on the study compared the occupations of the temporary workers before they arrived, when they arrived and after their status changed. 

The study found that before arriving, many migrant workers were professionals with university degrees. There’s a large deskilling upon arrival in Canada, said Foster. 

For example, he said one person he interviewed was an accountant and their first Canadian job was working for a fast-food chain. 

Foster said the person was later babysitting and cleaning houses for cash. 

“That’s a pretty steep drop,” he said. “We are missing out on human capacity.” 

Marco Luciano, director of the non-profit advocacy group Migrante Alberta, said when people are deskilled, “they get frustrated, they get depressed … [and] mental health issues kick in.” 

Luciano said he believes if the federal government allowed a straighter path to permanent residency, more people would be able to put their skills to use, like getting accredited as health-care professionals. 

Foster noted that some workers he interviewed described poor working conditions upon arrival in Canada. They spoke about concerns regarding issues like non-payment of overtime or abusive working conditions. 

“We put them in these precarious situations that put them on the margins of our communities,” Foster said. “The stress is unimaginable.

“We need to stop seeing migrant workers as cogs that we can sort of use and then toss aside.”

He said he believes a pathway to permanent residency should be explored, as well as a rethinking of the circumstances in which workers are brought to the country. 

“Being able to remain with your original employer, … that seems to have a stabilizing influence,” Foster said, as do informal networks like churches. 

In an email to CBC News, a spokesperson for Employment and Social Development Canada noted the federal government funds the Migrant Workers Support Program, which helps workers understand and exercise their rights, and also helps them navigate available supports.

The spokesperson added that employment for Canadians is prioritized, and that “a year-over-year comparison shows that the TFW Program saw a 50 per cent reduction in applications overall, with there being a 70 per cent reduction specifically for the program’s low-wage stream.”

Foster said he is interested in finding ways to prevent degradation in skills from happening to migrant workers in the future.