Last July under idyllic summer conditions, the Canadian National Exhibition received a record number of visitors. The gate-crashing crowds didn’t come to fawn over farm animals or catch an airshow.

Rather, more than 37,000 people – nearly double the number from the year before – showed up for the CNE Job Fair hoping for one of 5,000 positions such as short-order cooks, retail associates, and cashiers.

The numbers speak to a particularly bleak situation facing young job hunters: the unemployment rate for students averaged 16.7 per cent from May to August, up significantly from the previous year. The situation was even more challenging for specific groups: 22.8 per cent of immigrant youth were unemployed, while the unemployment rate for Black students was 29.5 per cent, a dramatic increase from 2023.

A sluggish economy has increased competition for fewer jobs, and young people generally lack experience. These are two of the many complex reasons why young people are facing a difficult job market.

But for many young people, the need for a job doesn’t end when the academic year begins. Approximately 43 per cent of full-time students aged 15 to 29 work part-time during the school year.

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Employers, policymakers and funders who support young people and youth-employment programs must do more to respond to this reality by addressing youth unemployment in such a way that recognizes that it is a year-round challenge and acknowledging that young people need support even once they have found work.

There are long-term consequences when young people have difficulty finding work or don’t have meaningful work at the beginning of their career.

The public and private sector must demonstrate that they are prioritizing the needs of young people and are helping to foster new opportunities for them.

A loss of work-integrated learning opportunities

Work-integrated learning helps young people combine academic studies with experience in a workplace or practical setting. But many of them have less access to work-integrated learning opportunities today than they did prior to when the pandemic began in 2020.

This is one of the initial findings from the RBC Young People and Economic Inclusion Longitudinal Study, which is running from 2022 to 2028. These findings are shared in our new report Facing challenges, finding opportunity: Young people in Canada navigating a new employment reality.

In other words, the kind of short, intensive opportunities for young people to gain much- needed work experience have not rebounded to pre-pandemic levels of availability for young people.

Business, academia and government must prioritize investment in work-integrated learning to ensure that all young people, especially those from diverse backgrounds, have an opportunity to take part.

Making investment a priority

The fallout from a lack of early support for young people includes lower earnings in the long run, a higher likelihood of future unemployment and challenges around health and job satisfaction.

It is concerning, then, that 11 per cent of young people are not employed or in education or training.

An unprecedented number of applications to the federal government’s Youth Employment and Skills Strategy grants and contributions program speaks to the need for continued investment by government, foundations and the private sector. These investments must include wrap-around supports that help young people secure employment.

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Forty-six per cent of young Canadians aged 15 to 29 are employed and not pursuing education. However, just because they are employed doesn’t mean that they don’t need continued support. Young women – especially those with lower earnings – are paid less than their male counterparts, our report found. Similarly, young immigrants are less likely to be thriving at work compared to those born in Canada.

Employers can play a key role in ensuring that once young people find a job, the work is meaningful. They can also help ensure a living and equitable wage for this group, especially young women.

Employers can also be proactive by asking young people, especially young immigrants, what they need to thrive at work and demonstrate they are listening and acting on what they hear. This may take the form of:

• Ensuring young employees are part of internal committees where decisions that impact them are made. And ensuring that young employees have the support they need to actively participate in these committees. This might include pairing young employees with a mentor on the committee who can help them decipher acronyms and understand organizational politics and dynamics.
• Ensuring that when young employees are consulted through a survey or another mechanism that they are told what has happened to their insight. Did the recommendations get implemented? If not, why not?
• Recognizing that young people have unique abilities that can position them as the “innovation engine” of organizations and businesses and valuing the perspectives of young people even when they might not talk, dress or act like other workers.

Now and down the road, young people and all of Canadian society stand to benefit from support leading to meaningful employment.