Conservatives present plan to address record-high youth unemployment

The Conservatives are calling on the Carney government to adopt its four-point plan to address record-high youth unemployment.

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The Conservatives are calling on the Carney government to adopt its four-point plan to address record-high youth unemployment.

“More than 460,000 young people are now unemployed,” Conservative employment critic Garnett Genuis told reporters during a press conference on Parliament Hill.

“The overall youth employment rate is at its lowest level in more than 25 years, excluding the pandemic period. This means that, not only is unemployment very high, but many young people are giving up on finding jobs and leaving the labour force entirely.”

Youth employment fell by 34,000 jobs in July, a 0.7 per cent decline, bringing the rate to 53.6 per cent. Excluding the COVID-19 pandemic years of 2020-21, July marked the lowest youth employment rate since November 1998.

Genuis described the situation as “intolerable,” adding that high youth unemployment “doesn’t only cause pain and misery in the present,” but also “affects the life-long career trajectories of the next generation.”

According to Genuis, the Liberals’ only response has been to increase public spending to expand existing job subsidy programs, which fails to meet the moment.

“The magnitude of the problem is enormous,” he said, noting that nearly half a million young people between the ages of 15 and 24 are unemployed.

A minimum wage job subsidy program for this cohort alone is estimated to cost taxpayers about $1 billion a month, excluding overhead and administration.

“We simply can’t afford it,” said Genuis. “And free entry to national parks is no consolation to young people who’d rather be working.”

The private sector continues to lose employees, while public sector employment remains relatively unchanged.

While unemployment ticks up, so does Canada’s population. Statistics Canada reports the population grew by 715,000 over the past 12 months, with 307,500 jobs added.

Employment trends were largely negative over the summer, with 66,000 jobs lost in August alone.

Canada’s unemployment rate rose from 6.9 to 7.1 per cent.

The Conservatives presented a four-point plan Wednesday to alleviate high youth unemployment, starting by “unleashing the economy” through repealing anti-resource laws, eliminating red tape and cutting taxes.

Next, the Conservatives are calling on the Liberals to “fix immigration” by returning to long-held social bargains in the labour force and resuming credential recognition, while realigning “immigration with labour and housing market realities.”

Additionally, the plan demands that the federal government “fix training” so that student aid “no longer treat all studies the same.”

“We are proposing that the Canada Student Financial Assistance Program provide relatively more support to students pursuing in-demand fields — determined based on objective labour market data. Taxpayer investments in education should prepare youth for jobs,” reads the Youth Jobs Plan.

Finally, it calls for the government to fast-track home approvals in regions where employers are trying to hire and areas facing labour shortages.

“To fix this, we are proposing a 100 per cent capital cost write-off for companies that build workforce housing. This powerful incentive will help small businesses and larger employers alike attract workers, while expanding housing supply overall,” it said.

According to a recent study by the Angus Reid Institute, youth unemployment is now a “key concern” for Canadians, with 40 per cent of respondents worried they or someone in their household may lose their job due to the economy.

The fear was consistent across all income levels but highest among 18- to 24-year-olds.

Genuis noted that while these platforms were announced during the Conservatives’ last campaign, “there is no copyright on these good ideas.”

“Liberals should take them and implement them in their next budget.”