A new study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’ Ontario office finds that Ontario is becoming one of the toughest places in Canada for youth to land a job.
The report shows that five years after the global economic meltdown, youth employment levels remain significantly depressed, tracking much lower than the national average.
Among the report’s key findings:
- In 2013, the unemployment rate for Ontario youth aged 15-24 fluctuated between 16% and 17.1%, trending above the Canadian range of 13.5% to 14.5% and placing Ontario as the worst province outside Atlantic Canada for high youth unemployment.
- The employment gap between youth and older workers in Ontario is now at an all-time high, with only one in two youth fortunate enough to be holding down a paying job.
- Windsor, Oshawa, Brantford and London stand out as youth unemployment hotspots: their youth unemployment rate is over 20%, similar to the European Union rates.
- Toronto’s youth employment rate – the measure that determines how many youth actually have jobs – is 43.5%. That’s the worst employment rate of any Ontario region and it may be driving some youth out of the province in search of work.
- Toronto also gets the prize for having the largest gap between youth and adult employment in the province, at 21.8%. That’s the highest it’s ever been.