Quote:
Originally Posted by chemgear
CBC has a piece about the rising youth unemployment in Canada. Even engineering is no lock.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/you...0the%20economy.
"It's bleak," said the 23-year-old graduate of the University of Calgary's media and communications program. She hasn't been able to find a job in her field and said she intends to pursue a master's degree.
"I believe that it's tough just because of everything that's happening with the economy, with our society and with politics," she said. "There's a whole [lot] of talk about 'there's a recession coming.' I'm not an economist, but I can also see it as well."
Chung is part of a generation facing Canada's highest youth unemployment rate in about a quarter-century.
Fast forward to 2025, and Canada's youngest workers are grappling with a perfect storm of economic conditions: an inflation crisis that came on the heels of a pandemic; a surge in population growth that has outpaced the number of available jobs; and now, a country teetering closer to recession as the U.S. trade war wreaks uncertainty on the economy.
The federal government and public policy experts prescribed higher immigration as an antidote to the shortage, which led to a rise in the Gen Z and millennial working population.
"I spent two hours sweeping yesterday, and I have a mechanical engineering degree," said 24-year-old Ben Gooch of Dundas, Ont. |
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fuzzy14
I think a big concern for young people is their inability to access part time work, either in high school or university.
I was employed, at least in some capacity, from the age of 14 to when I went to law school at 27. When applying for jobs at various points in my life, my work experience has been invaluable. For many students who obtain arts degrees of some form or another, whether they have some form of work experience is going to be a deciding factor in whether they can obtain work post-graduation.
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Yeah, for me I have been employed (often in multiple jobs) from 14-Current with only a 3 month gap from when I quit my last job and started my own company.
I'll go a little differently, but, that Engineer in the article isn't wrong, we do have something of a hostile political climate in regards to employment.
We as a nation have made standard employment incredibly onerous and expensive. Even just basic payroll is expensive.
You cant just hire the kid that walks through the door to wash dishes anymore.
I mean that seriously. One of my jobs I literally walked into a restaurant looking for a job and in less than 60 seconds it went like this:
"Can you wash dishes?"
- "Yes."
"Here's an apron, get in the back they'll show you where to go."
Done. I worked in that restaurant in varying capacities for 3 years.
Can't do that anymore.
Hence the MASSIVE rise in Professionals who are 'Contractors.' And at the moment, at least in my experience IT is the worst.
I mean, IT people are important, but man do they just get rag-dolled. Always contracted so they can be let go at a moment's notice, etc. They really get the short end of ye ol' 'Employment stick.'
As a country we have to really consider making employment more affordable. I'm not even talking about wages, I'm really talking about all of the ancillary costs of employing someone, CPP, EI, withholding and remittances, vacation pay, the actual cost of payroll, benefits, potential severance, etc. It can be a lot of money and so employers are very, very cautious about hiring someone, especially professionals because those costs go up exponentially, so....they like contractors.