Report 5—Temporary Foreign Worker Program—Employment and Social Development Canada

Audit at a Glance Report 5—Temporary Foreign Worker Program—Employment and Social Development Canada

What we examined (see Focus of the audit)

Canada faces significant labour market challenges. One challenge is regional disparities between available workers and job openings, while another is a lack of skilled labour in some occupations. Therefore, even though there are more than one million unemployed Canadians, some employers cannot fill vacant positions for some occupations.

The recruitment of foreign workers is one option available to employers with unfilled positions. The Temporary Foreign Worker Program enables employers to temporarily hire foreign workers to fill skills and labour shortages when qualified Canadians and permanent residents are not available.

This audit focused on whether Employment and Social Development Canada managed the Temporary Foreign Worker Program to allow employers to hire foreign workers on a temporary basis to fill labour shortages when qualified Canadians were not available. The audit also focused on whether the Department ensured that employers complied with program requirements.

Why we did this audit

This audit is important because the program is meant to be used by employers to hire temporary foreign workers only as a last resort. In the past, some employers used the program to hire temporary foreign workers who did not fit this circumstance.

What we concluded

We concluded that Employment and Social Development Canada’s management of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program was not complete. The Department put measures in place that helped to reduce the number of temporary foreign workers that it approved. But its review of employers’ applications to the program and its inspections to make sure employers that hired temporary foreign workers complied with program requirements were not sufficient.

What we found

Management of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program

Overall, we found that Employment and Social Development Canada implemented measures that helped reduce the number of temporary foreign workers. However, the Department did not do enough to ensure that employers hired temporary foreign workers only as a last resort. The Department relied largely on the information provided by employers to determine whether the need for temporary foreign workers was justified, and it did not consider sufficient labour market information to determine whether jobs could be filled by Canadians. We found cases in certain sectors—primarily caregivers, and fish and seafood processing plants—in which the Department should have better questioned whether temporary foreign workers were filling real labour shortages. In particular, there were indications that unemployed Canadians who last worked in a fish and seafood processing plant may have been available for work.

We also found that the Department did not adequately identify and deal with employers that were not following program requirements. It conducted few on-site inspections and face-to-face interviews with employers or temporary foreign workers.

Finally, we found that the Department did not measure the results or impact of the program and did not know what impact the program had on the labour market.

These findings matter because the program was designed to help employers fill job vacancies that they cannot otherwise fill, and Canadians expect the Department to manage the program in a way that makes sure the program is used to respond only to real Canadian labour market shortages.

  • The Department did not do enough to ensure that employers hired temporary foreign workers only as a last resort

    Recommendation. Employment and Social Development Canada should review current policies, guidance, and processes to identify opportunities to strengthen the assessment of employers’ recruitment efforts. The Department should ensure that Temporary Foreign Worker Program officers can more fully verify the accuracy of employers’ statements and that employers use the program only as a last resort.

    Recommendation. Employment and Social Development Canada should establish a quality assurance framework for the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. The framework should ensure that program officers’ decisions relating to the application process are consistent with program requirements and that employers hire temporary foreign workers only as a last resort.

  • The Department did not use all existing labour market information to determine whether Canadians could fill available positions

    Recommendation. Employment and Social Development Canada should ensure that Temporary Foreign Worker Program officers have access to relevant Employment Insurance data and sufficient Record of Employment data for use in their assessments of employer applications for temporary foreign workers.

    Recommendation. Employment and Social Development Canada should ensure that the additional labour market information on job vacancies and wages is available and used by the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. The Department should also develop clear and detailed guidance for program officers on how to use the information in their assessments of employer applications for temporary foreign workers.

  • The Department made limited use of its expanded powers to identify employers that did not comply with program requirements

    Recommendation. Employment and Social Development Canada should develop and implement a comprehensive risk-based framework to identify enforcement activities for all categories of temporary foreign workers. The framework should include investigating specific sectors where higher levels of risk may exist.

    Recommendation. Employment and Social Development Canada should ensure that its investigators have access to and use Record of Employment and Employment Insurance information that could be pertinent to their investigations.

    Recommendation. Employment and Social Development Canada should work with provinces and territories to develop and finalize information-sharing agreements and use the information obtained to inform its enforcement activities.

    Recommendation. Employment and Social Development Canada should use its expanded powers to increase the scope of its inspections by ensuring that all the relevant conditions are covered. It should also conduct more on-site inspections and explore the option of conducting some without notice, to further enhance its ability to detect non-compliance.

    Recommendation. Employment and Social Development Canada should explore options to streamline and speed up its process of approving findings that identify employers as non-compliant.

Entity Responses to Recommendations

The audited entity agrees with our recommendations, and has responded (see List of Recommendations).

Related Information

Report of the Auditor General of Canada
Type of product Performance audit
Topics
Entities
Completion date 27 February 2017
Tabling date 16 May 2017
Related audits

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