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Important developments in the character of temporary worker flows to Canada between 1973 & 1985 are highlighted, using unpublished data analyzed by new measures. The number of employment authorizations are converted to person years to indicate the overall labor market impact of temporary worker flows, & this measure is used to analyze unpublished data from Employment & Immigration Canada. The findings reveal that a significant & growing proportion of employment authorizations are exempted from governmental procedures that link the admission of temporary workers to the Canadian labor market. In many cases, these exempt documents are being authorized for social & humanitarian programs (eg, refugee claimants, in-Canada immigrant claimants). As a result, the actual "labor recruitment" component of these authorizations is considerably less than interpreted from published statistics of employment authorizations. The policy implications of these findings are discussed. 6 Tables, 21 References. HA