Closing employment gap for Indigenous youth key to addressing labour shortage: study
Global News
An Atlantic council said employment outcomes for the region's rapidly growing Indigenous youth population have improved in recent years but still lag non-Indigenous youth.
New research says closing the employment gap for Indigenous youth in Atlantic Canada is key to easing the region’s acute labour shortage.
The Atlantic Provinces Economic Council says employment outcomes for the region’s rapidly growing Indigenous youth population have improved in recent years but still lag non-Indigenous youth.
The research found Indigenous youth under age 25 face a number of barriers in the labour market, including lower educational attainment and a lack of resources such as transportation.
It says additional funding for Indigenous youth training, skills development and entrepreneurship would help improve labour market outcomes of Indigenous youth.
The report says this would boost economic development in Indigenous communities and help address a labour crunch in the broader economy.
APEC’s senior policy analyst Fred Bergman, the report’s lead author, says Atlantic Indigenous youth living off-reserve have experienced substantial improvements in labour market outcomes between 2007 to 2021.
But they still have lower employment rates than non-Indigenous youth, he said.
“Reducing barriers and closing gaps is essential to promote economic development in Indigenous communities,” Bergman said.