Migrant labour

A "migrant worker" is a person who either migrates within their home country or outside it to pursue work such as seasonal work. Migrant workers usually do not have an intention to stay permanently in the country or region in which they work.

Migrant workers who work outside their home country may also be called foreign workers or expatriates, especially when they are sent for or invited to work in the host country before leaving the home country.

The International Labour Organization estimated in 2014 there were 232 million international migrants worldwide who were outside their home country for at least 12 months and approximately half of them were estimated to be economically active (i.e. being employed or seeking employment). Some countries have millions of migrant workers. Some migrant workers may be illegal immigrants. Some may be slaves.

The "United Nations Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families" defines migrant worker as follows:

The Convention has been ratified by Mexico, Brazil, and the Philippines (among many other nations that supply foreign labour) but it has not been ratified by the United States, Germany, and Japan (among other nations that receive foreign labor).

Since the 1960s, farmers in Ontario and other provinces have been meeting some of their seasonal labour needs by hiring temporary workers from Caribbean countries and, since 1974, from Mexico under the Canadian Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (CSAWP). This federal initiative allows for the organized entry into Canada of low- to mid-level skilled farm workers for up to eight months a year to fill labour shortages on Canadian farms during peak periods of planting, cultivating and harvesting of specified farm commodities. The program is run jointly with the governments of Mexico and the participating Caribbean states, which recruit the workers and appoint representatives in Canada to assist in the program's operations.

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