Post-secondary students in P.E.I. say they struggle to find jobs to help pay for rent, food, tuition

Some post-secondary students on Prince Edward Island have been struggling to find part-time and full-time employment during or after their studies.

George Jiang, president of the UPEI student union and a fourth-year history student, said he contstantly hears concerns over finding employment from his fellow students.

"It's competitive, and [they] don't have enough positions to offer for the qualified potential employees," he said.

Jiang said many students rely on part-time jobs during the school year to help pay for tuition, rent, groceries and living expenses.

"That ties into the whole bigger picture problem of affordability, which once they're in that financial stress, they're likely to have other mental health issues, which would also affect their academic performance at school," he said.

According to Statistics Canada, the P.E.I. youth unemployment for November 2024 was 11.9 per cent. 

Megan MacLean, the director of experiential education at UPEI, said she is concerned about the lack of opportunities for students to gain experience to help them succeed in their careers.

"When I see that unemployment rate [go] higher, I do worry about how students can maintain their education and continue to pursue that, for sure," she said.

"A higher youth unemployment rate speaks to the economics of the current climate that we're living and working within, where there are employers who are continuing to struggle to kind of pay staff with rising costs of everything."

Students and career counselors at UPEI do have advice for others on how to find a job, though.

Deanelle Magbanua, a second-year psychology student, said she spent three months looking for her first job and applied for over 200 positions.

"There's jobs everywhere as long as you're looking for them and as long as you're looking in the right place," she said.

"I know that I definitely have applied to so many jobs and just kept getting rejected. But then… I realized what I was doing wrong, which was basically applying in the wrong sites."