Who's on Secondary?: The Impact of Temporary Foreign Workers on Alberta Construction Employment Patterns

Foster, Jason and Barnetson, Bob (2017) Who's on Secondary?: The Impact of Temporary Foreign Workers on Alberta Construction Employment Patterns. Labour/Le Travail (80). pp. 27-53. ISSN 0700-3862

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Abstract

The Canadian province of Alberta suffers from recurring labour shortages caused by its unstable resource economy. Alberta has historically relied upon interprovincial migrant workers to meet demand during “boom” periods. Between 2003 and 2013, the availability of interprovincial migrants was inadequate to meet overall demand for workers. Alberta’s construction industry and the provincial government sought to recruit workers from groups they defined as underrepresented, such as women and Indigenous peoples, to address this shortage. At the same time, the federal government altered its long-standing Temporary Foreign Worker Program (tfwp) to enable employers to hire an increasing number of international migrant workers. Alberta employers were among the most enthusiastic users of temporary foreign workers (tfws).5 The effect of tfws on how employers approach recruitment and retention of traditionally marginalized groups has not been extensively studied.

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