By Christian Codrington and Kelly Pollack

The recent and regular exposure of abuses against workers we’ve been hearing about, primarily in lower skilled jobs, doesn’t mean that the Temporary Foreign Worker program is taking jobs away from Canadians. It does mean that there are employers who are prepared to take advantage of vulnerable workers, and there is no room for employers who abuse any program at the expense of its employees.

Taking advantage of vulnerable workers simply because they don’t have the same protections as Canadian citizens or – worse yet – on the chance they do not voice their concerns, is disgraceful. It is simply bad management. The changes that are necessary to the TFW program should ensure adequate protection for workers and harsh penalties for those employers abusing them.

What often fails to be discussed however, as public discourse pressures sweeping suspensions of programs like the Temporary Foreign Worker program, is that BC will not have enough people, domestic or foreign born, to grow our economy.

According to a recent article in The Economist, the worldwide “old-age dependency ratio”—the ratio of seniors to those of working age—is increasing. In 2010 the world had 16 people aged 65 and over for every 100 adults between the ages of 25 and 64, almost unchanged from 1980. However, by 2035 it is expected to nearly double to 26 percent of working adults.

Projections for BC are consistent. According to Urban Futures, it is estimated that BC’s population of 65 – 74 year olds will increase 66 percent; while the working-age population (25 – 64 yr. olds) will actually decline.

Urban Futures goes on to note that labour force participation among women in all age categories has nearly doubled since 1976, while the participation rate of men has declined. With higher rates of participation by women in both post-secondary education and in the labour force, birth rates in most developed countries have fallen. In fact, only South Asian and African countries have high birth rates. If current trends continue, by 2031 there will be more deaths than births in BC – negative population growth.

Against this significant shift in population demographics are projections for the BC economy – a million new jobs in the next 10 years. Whether that projection proves accurate or not, BC is a resource-based economy and growth will be driven by extraction of energy, lumber, fossil fuel, infrastructure building and construction – industries where the jobs have traditionally been filled by young men.

Temporary Foreign Workers are not taking jobs away from British Columbians. In fact, there aren’t enough trained British Columbians in several parts of the province to fill many of the current and anticipated jobs that will underwrite our province’s future growth. According to Citizenship and Immigration Canada, for 2011 there were nearly 70,000 TFW’s in BC. More than 70 percent were classified as Workers – Canada’s Interests. This means that these workers are not displacing Canadians. These include people working on reciprocal agreements with other countries where a Canadian is working in the TFW’s country in return, spouses of foreign workers or students allowed to be in Canada, or company transfers. That leaves approximately 15,000 TFWs in BC out of a workforce of nearly 2.4 million.

BC’s future prosperity needs a young, physically capable and mobile workforce. We are competing against every other developed nation, as they too face similar aging demography issues. BC and Canada stand to lose some of the best and brightest talent to other provinces and countries which are all in a fierce competition for skilled people. While dealing with this looming crisis, there should be no room to quibble over a program that accounts for only 0.6 percent of BC’s labour force. We must be opening our doors to both temporary workers as well as permanent residents from around the world.

The discussion must change to find solutions; otherwise we will be a stagnant province unable to support our population because the working tax base is too small. Business leaders and human resources practitioners around the province are already decrying an inability to find the right talent to fill the roles currently vacant. The future of BC requires advances in productivity, supports for young working families, more contributions from an age cohort set to retire and a healthy influx of skilled young immigrants, prepared to move throughout beautiful BC.

Christian Codrington is Senior Manager, Professional Practice of BC-based Human Resources Management Association.

Kelly Pollack is Executive Director, Immigrant Employment Council of BC.