Immigration and Temporary Foreign Workers (TFW’s)
- Source; Statistics Canada
- The number of temporary foreign workers dropped from 1,653 in 2017 to 1,417 in 2020, possibly due to the covid pandemic, policy changes, and market shifts.
- The 2020 decline aligns with COVID-19’s impact on travel and labour, decreasing foreign worker numbers.
- Post-2020, numbers rose to 1,478 in 2021 and 1,649 in 2022, indicating a recovery as conditions normalized.
- The significant rise in 2022 may reflect growing labour demands in Nova Scotia’s agriculture sector, possibly from increased production, area expansion, or local shortages.
- Source; Statistics Canada
- Fruit and tree nut farming heavily rely on foreign labour, with 52 operations employing at least one foreign worker, likely due to labour-intensive tasks like harvesting.
- Greenhouse, nursery, and floriculture production employ foreign workers in 18 operations, reflecting a need for year-round care not fully met by local labour.
- Cattle and ranch farming show moderate foreign labour reliance, with 14 operations employing foreign workers, possibly due to specialized skills or lower local interest.
Source; Statistics Canada
- Fruit and tree nut farming heavily relies on temporary foreign workers, with 854 in 2022, due to its labour -intensive nature, especially during harvest.
- Greenhouse, nursery, and floriculture production employed 279 temporary foreign workers, indicating a significant dependence on foreign labour. This might be due to specialized skills and year-round work.
- Other crop and vegetable and melon farming used fewer temporary foreign workers (227 and 197), suggesting smaller operations or less labour intensity than fruit farming.
- Cattle, ranch, hog, pig farming, and other animal production had lower foreign worker numbers, suggesting less labour need or a preference for local workers.
- The absence of temporary foreign workers in oilseed and grain farming suggests higher mechanization, and lower production volume when compared with others.
Source; Statistics Canada
- The Fruit and Tree Nut subsector has consistently had the largest share of Temporary Foreign Workers (TFWs), with a peak in 2018 (69.07%) and a notable recovery in 2021 (70.36%) after a dip in the interim years.
- TFW employment in the Vegetable and Melon Farming subsector remained stable until 2022, when it increased to 244 workers (14.80%).
- A significant increase in TFWs occurred in 2022 in the greenhouse, nursery, and floriculture production sectors, reaching 346 workers (20.98%).
- The employment of TFWs across all subsectors has shown fluctuations, with a general downward trend from 2017 to 2020 and an upward trend in 2021-2022.
