Labour Mobility

The Government of Canada’s Manpower Mobility Program announced in May of 1965 consisted of loans and grants for workers who moved within Canada to seek and to find work. Later, the Government of Canada’s Industry Labour Adjustment Program was instituted with a similar structure. Both programs were terminated in the mid 1980’s because a federally commissioned evaluation suggested that many of the people helped would have moved without financial assistance. The federal Department of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (formerly, Human Resources Development Canada) no longer provides mobile assistance to its clients.

Recent analysis of labour mobility in Canada categorizes barriers to labour mobility as either “natural, economic barriers” or “artificial barriers.” Natural, economic barriers include distance and linguistic-cultural differences, although language differences are affected by law and regulations. Artificial barriers to mobility are those imposed by law and regulation, including “professional occupational licensing, government occupational licensing of trades, preferential hiring practices, income security programs, education and language requirements, and employment standards legislation.”

Recent emphases in the development of public policy with respect to labour mobility have focused on the artificial barriers to labour mobility. These include a federation-wide, interprovincial mobility agreement across several sectors, bilateral provincial agreements, and both federal and provincial statutes on “internal” – that is, inter-provincial – trade including “credential recognition.” But aside from non-refundable tax credits in respect of moving expenses related to accepting employment, the Government of Canada no longer subsidizes labour mobility.

But nowhere has research been conducted in Canada with respect to the mobile worker’s motivation for moving to seek and to find work, the obstacles to worker mobility, nor with respect to developing a profile of the mobile worker. These studies seek, in part, to fill that gap.

Cardus prepared two investigative reports for the Construction Sector Council on labour mobility in Canada. The first, Working Mobile: A study of labour mobility in Canada's industrial construction sector is a comprehensive investigative research report that gives the construction industry a better understanding of the various factors relating to worker mobility in the large industrial and civil engineering sectors of the industry. Using a survey of mobile workers, the study analyzes results, and offers recommendations based on the survey findings.

The second, Working Local: A study of stationary labour in Canada's construction sector, expands on the findings made in Working Mobile, surveying local workers in Canada's industrial construction sector. Contact the Construction Sector Council to order a copy.