Feds extend summer job program amidst high youth unemployment

Employment and Social Development Canada, which runs the Canada Summer Jobs program, will pay for the extra positions with $25 million in reallocated internal funding.

The federal government is moving to shore up a historically weak summer job market for students — even as one economist argues tough employment prospects for young people suggest broader softness in the job market.

Statistics Canada shone a light on the difficult employment prospects for students heading back to school this fall in its May jobs report last Friday.

Roughly one in five returning students aged 15 to 24 was unemployed in May, the agency said. The last time the jobless rate for students was this high outside the pandemic was in May 2009.

Also on Friday, the federal government announced an expansion of the Canada Summer Jobs program, which offers wage subsidies to businesses hiring young people for seasonal work.

Ottawa says it plans to subsidize an additional 6,000 jobs on top of the 70,000 already planned for employers participating in the annual program.

Employment and Social Development Canada, which runs the Canada Summer Jobs program, will pay for the extra positions with $25 million in reallocated internal funding.

Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu said in a media statement that the higher target is meant “to address the urgent needs youth are experiencing in the job market.”

StatCan said the jobless rate for returning students has trended up annually each May since 2022, when just over 10 per cent of returning students were unemployed in a relatively tight labour market.