Food for thought: 3K students scramble for 60 waiter slots in Canadian eatery

A staggering 3,000 students, mostly from Punjab and Haryana, turned up for 60 positions of waiter in a recent hiring drive by an Indian restaurant in Canada, raising concerns over growing unemployment in the country.

In a widely circulated video, the students are seen lining up at the restaurant in the hope of securing a job. A majority of the applicants are Indians. Canada, a popular destination among international students, is already grappling with the rising cost of living amid a severe housing crisis.

Student migration to Canada in 2023

Indians 3.19 LAKH | from Punjab 1.8 LAKH

Agamveer Singh, one of the Punjab students who had applied for the job, says: “A large number of students are struggling with the rising cost of living, tough competition for part-time jobs and limited family support back home.”

“I had applied for 70 jobs over the past two weeks but got interview calls from only three places. It is getting tougher by the day,” he says.

Another student, requesting anonymity, says he cannot afford to share his problems with parents who have sold off land to send him abroad. “A majority of my friends are without jobs. Some have been here for the past three years. We don’t know what to do,” he says.

Indeep Kaur, guest executive manager of ‘Tandoori Flames’ that had advertised the openings, says a new venture, ‘Happy Singh’, is also witnessing a huge rush of applicants.

The employment scene has grown increasingly precarious for students in Canada, particularly in cities such as Brampton with a large immigrant population.

Students, especially from India, head to the country with the dream of obtaining quality education and eventually finding work to recover the substantial investments their families have made. High tuition fee, limited job opportunities and soaring living expenses are making it increasingly difficult for them to pull through.

For them part-time work is not an option — it’s a necessity. Rent, tuition and everyday costs adding up quickly, students often rely on low-wage jobs in the hospitality, delivery or retail industry to make ends meet.

In 2023, nearly 3.19 lakh students from India went to Canada, suggests data from the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Almost 1.8 lakh of them were from Punjab. The official data from January to July, however, shows a 20 per cent decline in the number of study permits to Indians.

Canada is attempting to curb heavy inflow of students in the name of enhancing the quality of education and ensuring adequate facilities such as housing and job placements. Besides revised working hour limit for students and fewer hours for spouses, the cost of living has gone through the roof in the past couple of years.