What obstacles are Canada's youths facing in joining the workforce?

Added: 2026-05-14

[00:00:00]Well, with summer around the corner, young people across Canada may be facing a tough time looking for work. The unemployment rate for Canadians aged 15 to 24 rose last month by half a percentage point to 14.3%.

[00:00:13]Now, youth unemployment was up more than 1% in February, was unchanged in March.

[00:00:18]An economist with the Canadian Chamber of Commerce says that Canada's job market remains, quote, "underwhelming," especially for young people. Joining me now is the CEO of the Students Commission of Canada, Sherif Malati.

[00:00:29]Sherif, thanks for being here.

[00:00:31]Thank you for having me.

[00:00:32]>> You know, give me a sense because it's disconcerting, I think, you know, you see you see a half a percentage point uh in in another large jump in youth unemployment in this country, not even not close it's very close to that high that we did see uh back last September, but give me your sense of what's driving these numbers and why we have ended up at this spot where so many young people are looking for work.

[00:00:52]Well, I think there's a mix of factors that are contributing to the rate being where it's at, and they continue to be the same factors that we were seeing over the past few years. Uh namely that it's a really risky time for employers to be bringing on new employees. There's a lot of uncertainty out there, and it's a lot of work to train and upskill and support young people, particularly in their first jobs, and employers are leery about making that happen. The other challenges is that young people are being asked to have experience before they're even being hired with that experience. So, they need experience to get the jobs, but there's no one willing to have the the to place young people with that experience. So, it's creating this kind of vicious cycle of if I don't have the experience, I can't get the job, and if you don't have experience, I'm not going to hire you.

[00:01:37]We need to kind of create a system where we're getting young people that first experience so that they can be bridged into those first job and first work experiences more quickly. Yeah, you know, there was a lot of talk even, you know, as I was remember looking for my first job and and in trying to get into this industry in particular as well, and you know, the internship talk and and that conversation, and especially with unpaid internships at points. And you talk about that experience for now. But given the cost of living crisis and and and just how expensive life is right now, really doesn't feel like it is a realistic possibility for a lot of these young people, right?

[00:02:08]No, it's not a realistic possibility and we need to kind of figure out a way in a a way to kind of bridge the financial needs that these young people have who often have to work more than one gig to meet to meet their ends meet or have to contribute to their family circumstances.

[00:02:22]There are a lot of really good programs out there though that are trying to bridge the gap and I think this rate would be much higher without them. So, you know, there's some there's some really good programs that we're running around uh subsidizing some of the salary up for an employer to help them get that first work experience. The recent expansion of Canada Summer Jobs has also allowed us to kind of hire more young people and place them with employers. Um it's not enough for sure, but it is bridging and preventing this rate from being much higher than it could be. Uh we know that too that the federal government as well. I was reading to a little bit earlier about some of the immigration and and you know, the push that the last liberal government put on bringing immigrants into this country and and again pushing to the workforce and maybe hampered to what young people with some of those opportunities as well. Are we expecting a shift in that now that we have changed course at least a little bit when it comes to international students, when it comes to some of the immigration targets?

[00:03:14]Yeah, I do think that there is now a um you know, a potential for young people to get some of those placements. But some of these entry-level jobs are not able to meet uh meet the the salary expectations or address the cost of living concerns that these young people have to pay for their tuition, to pay for their shelter, to pay for their food. Um so, we're going to have to I think rethink what the first work experience is all about to really um support these young people to be to make it in the world that we're in right now.

[00:03:40]CEO of Students Commission of Canada, Sherif Merali. Sherif, appreciate your time and your insight on this today.

[00:03:44]Thank you. Thank you. Take care.