Canada | Prevailing wage data updated

The Canadian government updated the wage data/prevailing wages for Labor Market Impact Assessments (LMIAs) required under the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) Program.

Key Points:

• The wage data was updated on Dec. 3 and is available on the Government of Canada’s Job Bank website here.
• The wage data can be sorted by occupation or location of work, and the median wage column shows the prevailing wage.
• Employers hiring temporary foreign workers with LMIAs are required to annually review temporary foreign workers’ wages to ensure they reflect the prevailing wage rates for their given occupation and region of work.

Additional Information: As BAL reported, the Canadian government has updated the TFW Program this year to ensure it remains responsive to labor market needs and to protect temporary foreign workers from fraud and abuse. This includes a recent 20% increase to the median wage for workers in the high-wage stream for specific provinces or territories of work, as well as new measures for the low-wage stream.

Officials stated the TFW Program is designed as an extraordinary measure to be used when a qualified Canadian is not able to fill a job vacancy, and further adjustments will be made if needed to help ensure that only compliant employers with demonstrable labor needs can access the TFW Program.

BAL Analysis: Job Bank wages are updated every year. Employers should be aware of the changes and review temporary foreign workers’ wages.

This alert has been provided by the BAL Global Practice Group.

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