Ontario is becoming one of the toughest places in Canada for youths to land a job, says a new study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’ (CCPA) Ontario office.
The Young and the Jobless: Youth Unemployment in Ontario shows that five years after the global economic meltdown, youth employment levels remain significantly depressed, tracking much lower than the national average.
“Ontario’s youth joblessness problem isn’t simply a post-recession hangover – it’s becoming chronic,” says the report’s author, Waterloo academic Sean Geobey.
The report found that in 2013 the unemployment rate for Ontario youths aged 15 to 24 fluctuated between 16 and 17.1 per cent, trending above the Canadian range of 13.5 to 14.5% and placing Ontario as the worst province outside Atlantic Canada.