Elizabeth Ruddick
Citizenship and Immigration CANADA
elizabeth.ruddick@8754bss.cina.cic.x400.gc.ca

Description:

Globalization and liberalization of trade have resulted in demands for greater facilitation of the movement of temporary foreign workers including businesspersons. In order to move forward with informed policy development, reliable data on the size of this flow, and its labour market impact, is required. Estimates of the number of people entering North American countries on a temporary basis are usually inferred from counts of the number of documents. However, certain practices result in significant and sometimes substantial double counting. Incorrect measurements greatly confuse discussions of brain drain/gain and its associated labour market impacts.

What information is available on temporary workers moving across North American borders? How large is this flow? How large is the stock of temporary workers within countries? How has this flow/stock changed over time? How has NAFTA impacted these numbers? What is the average duration of an employment authorization? What is the distribution of this duration? What is the effect of temporary workers on the occupational distribution of the labour force? the skill mix of the labour force? the country of origin division of the labour force? Are the flows of highly skilled temporary workers increasing?

Presentations of new data sources and research for flows into Canada of temporary workers and for flows of Canadians into the United States under such programs as NAFTA, H1-B and L will be examined. A Mexican perspective will also be included. Policy outcomes will be discussed in light of this new information.

Presenters