Elderly Family Members: Temp Jobs

Placement Agencies Dept: Temporary workers, many of them recent immigrants, are hired by placement agencies to fill shortages in a wide range of industries, from manufacturing to the health sector, according to Montreal Gazette. According to Statistics Canada, revenues for the temporary help industry surged to $9.2 billion in 2008 from $1 billion in 1993, while the gap in earnings between permanent and "casual" employees has remained at about 34 per cent. In Quebec the industry is thought to be worth close to $1 billion, with about 1,200 placement agencies across the province and perhaps you've seen them mulling about the St. Michel m tro station at 6 a.m., waiting for a school bus to take them to work at the chicken factory or farm. Increasingly, they are hired to look after elderly family members at home. Then there are those packing and unpacking the imported goods from China on their way to your neighbourhood Dollarama. But there is growing concern that these temp jobs are replacing better paid, better protected permanent jobs, and allowing a growing contingent of placement agencies to pocket the difference. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.