Advantages and Disadvantages of Temporary Work Programs for Immigrant Workers in Canada

Running head: ENGLISH ESSAY
ENGLISH ESSAY
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1
ENGLISH ESSAY
Temporary work programs initiated by the government bring in immigrated workers
into the country, in this case being Canada from Mexico, and gave them employment in
farms under a fixed working permit. There are both advantages and disadvantages to such
temporary work programs both from the individual level as well as the government level. The
temporary worker program does provide employment to a large number of people who
otherwise would have been unemployed. The workers who work in farms are employed by
the government through a temporary worker program where they are given certain benefits
for the duration of the work permit. The article Farming it out talks about the issue faced by a
worker Gutiérrez who was diagnosed with kidney failure. He came to Canada from Mexico
through the SAW (Seasonal Agricultural Workers) Program. Instead of being an illegal
immigrant in the country, the temporary programs give several benefits to the migrant
workers. They have both social benefits as well as legal rights at least on a theoretical level.
These temporary programs are initiatives taken by the government to encourage workforce
diversification through the employment of immigrant workers by giving them sufficient
rights like every other worker. Another advantage of temporary work programs is that the
workers get a fixed source of income which otherwise would have been impossible for them
to find and they can support their family. This can be understood from the article where it
states, “the program provides farmers with a “reliable” source of labor” (Amuchastegui,
2006). Moreover, the wage that the workers are paid in the temporary work programs for a
week is more than the workers in Mexico. This gives them a sense of earning more which
would make their life organized. Another advantage of being employed in temporary
programs is that the children of the workers get educational benefit till the time that they are
working under the permit. The longer duration that a worker is showing active participation
in the program, the higher level of education is received by his children in Mexico. The
workers also receive many social benefits from the government such as health care facilities