One in five food workers are temporary workers, international students
New figures reveal that a staggering one in five food service workers in Canada were non-permanent residents in 2023, igniting concerns from Conservative immigration critic Michelle Rempel Garner.
New figures reveal that a staggering one in five food service workers in Canada were non-permanent residents in 2023, igniting concerns from Conservative immigration critic Michelle Rempel Garner, given they represent only 6.2 per cent of the population.
Rempel-Garner highlighted a Statistics Canada report from September which noted that the number of non-permanent residents, such as international students and temporary foreign workers, working in the food and drink services industry more than tripled in six years.
Non-permanent residents comprised 6.9 per cent of the food service sector in 2017, rising to 20.8 per cent of the workforce in 2023.
The contrast was more pronounced in “limited-service eating places” such as fast-food and takeout restaurants, food trucks, bars and nightclubs. In 2017, non-permanent residents made up 7.3 per cent of this subsector, growing to 25.2 per cent by 2023.
According to a Canadian government report, Canada’s temporary resident population reached 2.5 million in 2023, representing 6.2 per cent of the country’s population.
One Statistics Canada report stated that an estimated 3,024,216 non-permanent residents were in the country as of July 1, 2025. Although data on how many non-permanent residents in Canada were in the workforce wasn’t reported, a separate Statistics Canada report found they made up 4.1 per cent of the Canadian labour market in 2021.
In contrast, last month’s report noted non-permanent residents made up 11.3 per cent of the total food and drink services sector in the same year.
“This is a massive disruption to youth entry level jobs,” Rempel Garner said on X. “I’d also guess to Canadian attitudes regarding who is viewed as supposed to be doing those jobs. It probably also created an artificial wage ceiling.”
According to Statistics Canada reporting, youth employment fell by 34,000 jobs in July, a 0.7% drop, bringing the rate to 53.6 per cent in that month.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre hammered the point forward last month noting the unemployment rate for those aged 15 to 24 dropped to 14.6 per cent that month, bringing youth unemployment to its lowest level in over a quarter century outside of the pandemic.
“The Liberals should have never issued these levels of permits,” Rempel-Garner added in the post. “Totally insane.”
In April 2025, 2,526,773 work or study permit holders who were in the country. In the first four months of 2025, the Liberal government finalized 194,000 new or extended study permits and 491,400 new or extended work permits.
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