I have never understood the comment “Young people just don’t want to work these days.” Students can all agree that’s the exact opposite of what’s going on. Canada’s young population wants to work — we’re begging for work — but there are simply no jobs.
Canadian students are feeling the brunt of one of the toughest job markets in years. Students and graduates between the ages of 15 and 24 are facing the lowest employment rate since 2010, excluding the first two years of the pandemic. Inflation fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, rising interest rates and economic uncertainty with the Canada-U.S. trade war and tariffs have weakened the labour market and caused unemployment rates to rise for both youth and adults.
There are horror stories of engineering graduates settling for sweeping floors or being unable to secure a job at all. When people with degrees aren’t getting hired, what are current students expected to do?
Every year, I hear more and more stories of students applying to hundreds of jobs and still not getting hired, or even hearing back. This struggle has major consequences for those facing insane housing prices, student loans and more.
Canadian research suggests the consequences don’t stop there. For students struggling to find summer jobs, there could be lifelong negative effects as youth unemployment causes long-lasting wage penalties.
The never-ending cycle: you can’t get hired unless you have experience, but you can’t gain experience without first getting hired. It’s a whirlpool of economic doom threatening our generation’s future.
If that sounds scary, it’s because it is.
Our leaders and policy makers should be treating this issue with the urgency required and prioritizing its future workforce. Canadian students are hardworking and qualified; we just need the opportunity to prove it.
It is not that “Young people just don’t want to work these days.” Canadian students want to work. Will you let us?
