Youth employment figures boosted by shorter duration

The Liberals appear to be toying with the Canada Summer Jobs program in an attempt to boost the youth employment numbers by shortening the number of weeks that one is employed.

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The Liberals appear to be toying with the Canada Summer Jobs program in an attempt to boost the youth employment numbers by shortening the number of weeks that one is employed.

The program is part of the Youth Employment and Skills Strategy, which helps youth “aged 15 to 30 gain paid summer work experience and develop skills for the job market.”

It has traditionally offered employment that begins at the end of April and runs through to the end of August, with subsidies to help cover a portion of the employer’s hiring costs.

However, the length of time appears to have been shortened, at a time when youth unemployment is already reaching record highs.

This change in the program was addressed during a Human Resources Committee meeting on Tuesday.

“The average duration for Canada Summer Jobs is eight weeks,” said Conservative MP Garnett Genuis. “I talk to a lot of employers, and generally speaking, if you’re hiring a student for the summer, you’re trying to hire a student for the summer, not half the summer.”

Genuis went on to say that based on the program’s alterations, it appeared as though the Liberals were “trying to artificially show a high number of jobs created,” when most students would prefer to be employed for the entirety of the summer.

“Could you explain why the approach of your government is to fund half-jobs, as part of this program?” Genuis asked Minister of Jobs Patty Hadju.

Hadju responded by saying that, “100,000 students are going to have jobs this summer” across Canada.

“That’s almost 35,000 more students with jobs this summer, and I would point out that not-for-profit organizations, community businesses, small businesses, all kinds of different organizations are thrilled about the Canada Summer Jobs opportunities that provides them a subsidy for the wages that they would pay.”

Unsatisfied with Hadju’s response, Genuis asked her to “just answer a very specific question.”

“I’ll give the floor back to you, but it’s a very specific question, and the public will see whether you answered it or not,” he said. “I’m asking specifically about eight weeks because if you gave an actual summer job to students, then I think employers and students would be happier. Why the average eight-week duration?”

Hadju replied that the condensed period “allowed for a broad diversity of jobs for youth across the country.”

“100,000 jobs this summer, this is a 100,000 young people that are going to get to participate in a small business, a not-for-profit, in a community recreation centre, in a senior centre,” said Hadju. “I will say that corporations and not-for-profits look forward to applying every year, and I certainly look forward to seeing the stories come from your riding, hopefully you’ll share those.”

“You’re talking half-jobs,” Genuis responded.

Meanwhile, youth employment is facing a dismal reality, as Canada lost a crushing 51,000 full-time jobs in July, according to Statistics Canada’s latest Labour Force Survey.

The data revealed a harrowing picture, particularly during the midpoint of youth summer employment.

Excluding the COVID-19 pandemic years of 2020-21, July marked the lowest youth employment rate since November 1998.

The private sector lost 39,000 employees last month, while public sector employment remained relatively unchanged.

While unemployment continues to tick up, so does Canada’s population, which increased by more than 37,000 last month.

“Unemployed people continued to face difficulties finding work in July,” said Statistics Canada. “Of the 1.6 million people who were unemployed in July, 23.8 per cent were in long-term unemployment, meaning they had been continuously searching for work for 27 weeks or more.”