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July 12, 2022TEMPORARY FOREIGN WORKERS IN AGRICULTURE, 2021 Statistics Canada has released data on the number of temporary foreign workers who come to Canada to work in agriculture.
In 2021, there were 61,735 temporary foreign workers in Canadian agriculture, up 11.9% compared with 2020. This was the largest increase since 2016.
The bulk of these workers were employed in three types of crop farms: vegetable/melon farming (20%), fruit/tree nut farming (20%) and greenhouse/nursery/floriculture production (40%). These three sectors accounted for 80% of temporary foreign workers in agriculture in 2021.
In 2020, there were 57,165 temporary foreign workers in agriculture including single individuals who held more than one job in different locations during the year.
Of the 57,165 Canadian agricultural jobs filled by temporary foreign workers in 2020, 68.5% were on agricultural operations with over $2 million in farm revenue. A further 12.8% worked at operations with farm revenue between $1 million and $2 million while 8.0% worked at operations with farm revenue between $0.5 million and $1 million.
Temporary foreign workers amount to 20.4% of employment in Canada's agriculture sector. The largest shares of temporary foreign workers relative to agricultural employment are found in Quebec, British Columba, Ontario, and Nova Scotia. The lowest shares of temporary foreign workers in employees in the agriculture sector are reported in the prairie provinces as well as in New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador.
From 2017 to 2020, growth in temporary foreign workers in agriculture was fastest in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.
The number of temporary foreign workers in Nova Scotia agriculture declined between 2017 and 2020, declining from 1,752 to 1,496. Temporary foreign workers decreased as a share of employees in the Nova Scotia agriculture sector. The use of temporary foreign workers relative to agricultural employment also declined over this period in Newfoundland and Labrador and in all three prairie provinces.
The largest number of temporary foreign workers come to Canada from Mexico, followed by Guatemala and Jamaica. Together, these three countries accounted for 81% of the temporary foreign workers in Canada.
Source: Statistics Canada. Table 32-10-0218-01 Temporary foreign workers in the agriculture and agri-food sectors, by industry; Table 32-10-0220-01 Temporary foreign workers in the agriculture sector, by category of farm revenue; Table 32-10-0221-01 Countries of citizenship for temporary foreign workers in the agricultural sector; Table 36-10-0480-01 Labour productivity and related measures by business sector industry and by non-commercial activity consistent with the industry accounts
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