Canada’s youth unemployment could cost economy billions: report

More than 850,000 Canadians under the age of 29 are unemployed and without any post-secondary education or training, which could cost the country billions in the future.

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A new report from Deloitte, which was commissioned by the King’s Trust Canada, says youth unemployment in Canada reached a high of 14.5 per cent in August, the most it’s been in a decade.

King's Trust CEO Farah Mohamed spoke with CTV's Your Morning on Monday to discuss the figures from the report, which she called "troubling."

“We need to really get young people working and we’re just not seeing that kind of traction,” Mohamed said.

The unemployment rate for rate for Canadians between 18 and 24 in October was 12.8 per cent, according to Statistics Canada, more than double the rate of 5.4 per cent for Canadians older than 25.

Mohamed says there are several reasons for the disparity.

“There’s fewer jobs. We’re not having young people be hired in a way that makes sense,” Mohamed said, adding that expectations from employers have grown, but wages have not.

“A young person needs to have three years of employment experience, a graduate degree, bilingual … and they want to be paying this person $20 an hour,” Mohamed said. “So, it’s not really a place where we’re actually cultivating young people wanting to get jobs.”

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The report suggests that a reduction in youth employment could result in an $18.5-billion dollar loss in GDP and more than $5 billion in losses of revenue for the Canadian government.

Mohamed says the problem affects racialized populations and those with disabilities the most. She says there isn’t enough data to determine the cause, but there are things that can be done, including government incentives to hire youth facing barriers.

Mohamed says corporations need to be part of the solution too, adding that entry-level positions need to be accessible without unreasonable qualifications.

“We have to figure out, what are the barriers that we are putting in front of people?” Mohamed said. “It’s important for young people to support themselves.”

You can watch Mohamed’s interview with CTV’s Your Morning at the top of the article