How is the workforce calculated? It would include the following:
- Employees working either full-time or part-time
- Temporary foreign workers whose LMIAs have already been approved but who haven’t started working yet
- Open positions the employer is seeking to fill through their LMIA applications
A worker is considered part-time if they work an average of less than 30 hours per week. This will count as 0.5 of an employee.
Additional Requirements for Hiring Low-Wage Foreign Workers
Employers looking to hire workers under the low-wage stream have to:
- Handle transportation to and from Canada
- Buy private health insurance for each worker
- Take care of the worker’s housing, which must cost less than 30% of income before tax
Since September 2024, employers in urban areas with unemployment rates above 6% have been unable to hire or renew low-wage temporary foreign workers through the TFWP due to restrictions on LMIA processing in these regions.
The majority of Canadian work permits are issued through the International Mobility Program (IMP) rather than the TFWP.
According to the immigration plan, the government intends to approve about 170,000 workers through IMP and about 60,000 through TFWP.
