OREANDA-NEWS. As a part of its plan to grow the middle class and help those working hard to join it, the Government of Canada is establishing an Expert Panel on Youth Employment. Today, the new Panel kicked off its work with an inaugural meeting with the Honourable MaryAnn Mihychuk, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour. The Panel will aid the Government in fulfilling its commitment not only to create more job opportunities for youth, but to give young Canadians the skills and experience they need to secure and maintain good-well-paying jobs. 

First announced in Budget 2016, the Expert Panel on Youth Employment will assess the barriers faced by young people in Canada, including vulnerable youth, in finding and keeping jobs. The Panel will look at innovative practices used by other governments, non?governmental organizations and employers, at home and abroad, to improve job opportunities for youth. 

The Panel will invite young people from across the country, as well as representatives from provincial and territorial governments, rural and remote communities, Indigenous groups, businesses/employers, labour unions, not?for?profits, think tanks and the academic community, to share their perspectives. 

Chaired by Vasiliki Bednar, the Associate Director, Cities, at the Martin Prosperity Institute, the Panel will report back with recommendations to the Government of Canada by March 15, 2017. Panel members include: Maria Eugenia Longo (Institut national de la recherche scientifique), Paulina Cameron (Business Development Manager for Futurpreneur), Adrianna Mackenzie (Pathways to Education), Sonya Gulati (Manager with KPMG's Public Sector Advisory Practice), Michael Champagne (community leader and Indigenous-rights activist, Aboriginal Youth Opportunities), Gabriel Bran Lopez (Executive Director, Youth Fusion), as well as Robyn Bews (Executive Director, WORKShift Canada). 

Each year, the Government of Canada invests more than $300 million in Canada’s young people through the Youth Employment Strategy (YES). As announced in Budget 2016, total funding for YES is increasing by some $278 million in 2016–17, representing the largest investment in YES since its launch in 1997. 

Quick Facts 

  • Between 1990 and 2015, the average rate of unemployment for all youth (15 to 29 years old) has been 11.8%, nearly 4 percentage points higher than the general population (15 years and older) (8.1%).
  • Canada’s current youth unemployment rate (15 to 24 year olds) is 13.2 % (Statistics Canada, 2016).
  • Today’s youth are more educated than previous generations and are staying in school longer. In 2014, 58% of 25 to 34 year olds held a post-secondary degree, the third-highest percentage among Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries.
  • According to a Statistics Canada study, in 2012, more than one-quarter of unemployed young people (15 to 24 years old) had never worked, far more than workers between 25 and 54 years old (only 5.4%) (Statistics Canada, 2013).
  • In 2015, youth (15 to 29 years old) with less than a high school diploma had an employment rate of 53.9%, compared to youth who completed post-secondary education (86.2%).
  • According to the 2011 National Household Survey, Indigenous youth (15 to 29 years old) had poorer employment rates than their non-Indigenous peers (43.6% versus 60.5%) and are much less likely to participate in the labour market altogether. Indigenous youth living on-reserve fare even worse, with an employment rate of 21.7%, compared to 50.3% off-reserve.