Regulation of employment agencies.

• Author: Bowal, Peter

...the essential duty of the employment service shall be to ensure... the best possible organization of the employment market as an integral part of the national programme for the achievement and maintenance of full employment and the development and use of productive resources. --International Labour Organization, Employment Service Convention, 1948 (No. 88) Introduction

When public employment agencies were first proposed in 1650, the British Parliament rejected the idea. Attempts to later establish private employment agencies in the United States were likewise rebuffed. It was thought that a job and one's working life were too precious to allow meddling into them by commercial intermediaries. The International Labour Organization (ILO) was founded in 1919 as part of the Treaty of Versailles with the mission to We still have a federal government department which facilitates human resource development, training and employment, but most of today's employer and employee match-making is done at the private sector level. "Promote social justice and internationally recognized human and labour rights... to promote rights at work, encourage decent employment opportunities, enhance social protection and strengthen dialogue on work-related issues." Article 2 of the Employment Service Convention, which Canada signed in 1950, envisioned a "national system of employment offices" to co-ordinate bringing employers and employees together. We still have a federal government department which facilitates human resource development, training and employment, but most of today's employer and employee match-making is done at the private sector level. There is a wide variety of private for-profit employment agencies operating in Canada, many of which are industry-or profession-specific. The agencies work for many different employer clients who pay them a fee to accomplish a specific task: to provide a list of suitable and available candidates to fill a position. As a sign of the significance that public policy holds for job placement, job seekers who work with private employment agencies should know that those agencies are vigorously regulated by the provinces in which they operate. This article describes such regulation.

Provincial Regulation

The definition of "employment agency" and protections varies slightly in the legislation of different provinces. This chart (PDF) outlines the legislation defining "employment agency" across the English-speaking provinces...