Hirra Gilani has been searching for a summer job, without success, since March.
She’s graduating from Wilfrid Laurier University this week and plans to move on to a master’s degree in the fall.
Finding a way to earn some cash in-between semesters, as she’d like to do, is proving difficult.
“There’s a lot of stuff like administrative assistants and retail jobs, but it’s even hard to become a barista nowadays,” she says.
Gilani is hardly an isolated case.
According to Statistics Canada, the country’s youth unemployment rate finished May at 13.3 per cent.
That’s down from where it was one month earlier, but still not a pretty picture compared to other age groups – Canada’s overall unemployment rate is only seven per cent.
In Ontario, youth unemployment stands at 15.9 per cent, the third-highest mark of any Canadian province.
Rebecca Roy, director of employment at Lutherwood, says young workers are bumping up against increased competition for even entry-level jobs, as laid-off manufacturing workers continue to search for work.
And when employers compare the two side-by-side, Roy says, young workers often come up short.
“They don’t have as much work experience at that age,” she says.
“They can’t rely on skills that they’ve gained in a previous position.”
But when workers – young or old – do find jobs, it seems they have a shot at stability.
Nikki Sharpley from Manpower Staffing Services says jobs that start out as part-time and summer relief can often turn into full-time and permanent.
“Forty to 50 per cent usually get transitioned on to cover that gap, but if they’re fully trained, it’s a smoother transition,” she says.
Sharpley says employers are generally looking for “soft skills” like reliability and willingness to learn – and says in the hiring climate of 2014, computer literacy is “a must” as well.
