Employers getting the green light for TFWs even when there are 2.3 unemployed Albertans for every job vacancy

Edmonton - The president of Alberta's largest worker advocacy group released new figures today, showing Alberta's robust labour market is leaving some Albertans out in the cold.

For the first six months of 2013, the Alberta labour market grew by 81,300 jobs. During that same period, 21,412 temporary foreign workers (TFWs) were brought to work in Alberta.

"The economy is growing at a reasonable pace, but there was a temporary foreign worker brought to Alberta for 26% of those jobs," says Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour.

At the same time, Statistics Canada reported yesterday there are 2.3 unemployed Albertans for every vacant job.

McGowan says the 2012 figures for Alberta are even more shocking.

The Alberta economy grew by 54,900 new jobs in 2012. However, there were 35,680 temporary foreign workers brought to Alberta that year, meaning there was a temporary foreign worker brought to Alberta for 65% of new jobs in the economy.

McGowan added that the above figures represent only those TFWs who arrived in Alberta in 2012. There were 68,339 total TFWs present in Alberta in 2012, or 124% of new jobs created in the province that year.

The AFL President reiterated his call for the Temporary Foreign Worker Program to be scrapped in favour of comprehensive immigration reform that would see foreign workers come to Canada as permanent residents.

Sources: Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey, CANSIM Tables 282-0001 and 282-0002. Government of Canada, Citizenship and Immigration, Quarterly Data Release.

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MEDIA CONTACT:

Gil McGowan, President, Alberta Federation of Labour at 780-218-9888 (cell)