As people get older, their opportunities for employment seem to be improving.
A new set of Focus on Rural Ontario fact sheets analyzes youth employment rate data and indicates the trends in industries and occupations.
“Rural development forum participants have shared their concerns about youth unemployment but data analysis indicates that reality may not be as challenging as perceived – as youth move across three age categories,” said Norman Ragetlie, director of policy and stakeholder engagement, for the Rural Ontario Institute.
Fact sheet data reveals employment rates are low among non-student, rural youth between the ages of 15 and 19, trending 21 per cent below general workforce employment rates.
But youth employment improves between the ages of 20 and 24, and by 25 to 29 years of age, young rural workers closely track overall rate trends and generally exceed employment compared to metropolitan youth of the same age.
Youth are over-represented in occupations related to food and beverage service, construction and manufacturing labour and construction trades. They are under-represented in career areas such as health care, teaching and transportation. Employment rates by industry and occupation have remained consistent over time.
“Jobs requiring specific credentials and training have fewer young people undertaking them, but older youth, likely having completed post-secondary education or trade certificates, are more distributed across industry categories, suggesting they are filling skilled roles,” said Ragetlie.
The fact sheet set also includes new data on building permits, indicating a low and flat trend in overall permit values in rural Ontario since 2011.
All Focus on Rural Ontario fact sheets are available for download at www.ruralontarioinstitute.ca/focus-on-rural-ontario.aspx.
Those resources are based on Statistics Canada data and are provided by the Rural Ontario Institute to build understanding of key demographics and economic trends impacting rural areas.
The Rural Ontario Institute is a non-profit organization committed to developing leaders, initiating dialogue, supporting collaboration and promoting action on issues and opportunities facing rural Ontario.
