'There’s good and bad news for young Canadians. The bad news is that it’s hard to find a job once they graduate school. The good news is that the problem hasn’t amounted to a crisis yet. Well, that’s a relief.
The good and bad news came courtesy of a CBC report on joblessness among Canadians aged 15-24. It’s an interesting demographic slice — teenagers are generally working part-time, to save a little money for later, but also to hopefully have a little fun: Gas up the first car, eat out with friends, buy that first drink with someone else’s ID. The usual. But for those in the early 20s, joblessness is a rather more serious affair: Generally, they have either graduated post-secondary education or they are about to. If they can’t get a job, it’s going to be hard to begin paying back those student loans, which are estimated to now range from $25,000-$30,000 per student with a four-year university degree. But, hey. Could be worse. Canada could be Greece.
That bit of good news (relatively good news, that is) aside, the situation for young Canadians isn’t catastrophic, but it is grim. The CBC report cites a recent study by TD Economics, which found (unsurprisingly) that while youth aged 20-24 have largely recouped their aggregate job losses since 2008, they have done so with less labour-market participation. Many have given up, in other words. The youth unemployment rate, roughly double the national average at 14%, is known to be low because those who have given up are not counted...'
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