Transnational Employment Strain in Pandemic Times: Magnified Strains and Insufficient Resources

In this chapter, we draw on the transnational employment strain approach, advanced in Chapter 2, to illustrate that the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated pre-existing, and contributed to new, employment strains among migrant farmworkers in Canada. Employment demands increased for migrant farmworkers during the health crisis as the working and living environments, transformed by the pandemic, posed greater risk to their physical and mental health. Furthermore, employment became even more insecure for these workers than prior to the pandemic, while employment resources, such as community support, remained limited. Unfortunately, policy interventions implemented at the federal, provincial, and regional levels to contain the virus and protect migrant workers and broader communities often amplified pre-existing or introduced new employment demands because they failed to consider the unique policy frameworks that shape these migrant farmworkers’ employment and living conditions in Canada. They also neglected to account for the contributions these workers make to socioeconomic reproduction of their households while being separated from them across transnational space.