The Youth Employment Strategy

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The Youth Employment Strategy
Communicating the Strategy
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Youth Employment Strategy

• YES is a key element of Canadas Innovation
  and Learning Strategy that will ensure that
  Canada has a highly qualified and skilled labour
  force prepared to meet the current and changing
  labour market needs.

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Objectives

• YES is the government of Canadas commitment
• To help young people aged 15 to 30 particularly
  those facing barriers to employment, i.e. single
  parents, Aboriginal youths, young persons with
  disabilities, recent immigrants, youth living in
  rural and remote areas and high school dropouts,
  get information and gain the necessary skills and
  work experience to make successful transition to
  the workplace
• To ensure Canada has a highly qualified and
  skilled labour force prepared to meet current and
  future about market needs

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• Delivered with Fourteen GOC Departments

• HRDC (lead department)
• Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
• Canada Mortgage and Housing
• Canadian Food Inspection Agency
• Canadian Heritage
• Canadian International Development Agency
• Department of Foreign Affairs and International
  Trade

• Environment Canada
• Fisheries and Oceans Canada
• Indian and Northern Affairs
• Industry Canada
• National Research Council
• Natural Resources Canada
• Parks Canada

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Youth Population Developments

• Canada has had a rebound in its youth population
  after a significant decline in
• the 1980s.
• During the 1990-2002 period, the number of youth
  aged 15-24 grew by 5.3
• after a decline of 17.3 in the 1980s.
• In the boom, bust and echo cycle these children
  are the echo. The increase is not
• related to increased immigration but increased
  fertility rates.

Source Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey
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Labour Market Participation

• Between 1990 and 1996, the youth labour force
  participation rate declined significantly.
• A significant proportion of the decline could be
  attributed to the fall in the labour
• force participation of students. Students
  became less attached to the labour
• market in the 1990s because the prospects of
  finding work while in-school were
• poor.
• The other major factor was the continued growth
  in school enrolments. Youth
• tended to postpone their entry into the labour
  market and stay in school longer.

Source Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey
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Labour Market Participation

• Since 1997, increasingly available jobs have
  brought youth into the labour market.
• The youth participation rate rose, as youth
  traded off between the future returns to getting
  an education to participate in todays
  knowledge-based economy and the immediate returns
  to entering the labour force at a lower skill
  level.

Source Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey
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Employment

• Similar to participation rate trends, youth
  employment rates fell during the early- to mid-
  1990s and have since increased. The increase in
  youth employment can be attributed to an improved
  Canadian economy.

Source Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey
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Background

• In ranking G8 youth unemployment rates Canada is
  ranked 5th lowest

Source OECD Labour Force Statistics
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New Direction for YES

• Three streamlined programs effective April 1,
  2003
• Skills Link
• Provides funding for community organizations to
  help youth facing barriers to employment develop
  the skills, knowledge and work experience to
  participate in the labour market.
• Career Focus
• Employers are funded to help post-secondary
  graduates get career related work experience and
  develop advanced skills.
• Summer Work Experience
• Provide wage subsidies that create summer
  employment for in-school youth returning to
  school. Support summer employment offices

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Youth Initiatives Directorate

• Youth Employment Initiatives continued
• Information and Awareness
• Information initiative allows for the development
  and dissemination of information services and
  tools for young Canadians including those facing
  barriers to better prepare them for the
  transition to the labour market, including
• Youth Employment Information Web Site
  http//www.youth.gc.ca
• Youth Info-Line
• Youth Link and Employer Link publications
• HRDC Youth Info Fairs

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Features of Streamlined YES Programs

• Client assessment / Case management
• Return to work employment action plan developed
  to meet client needs
• Individual skills enhancement
• Increased community planning/ more effective
  partnering
• Outreach

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Features Of Strategy

• Client-centered approach
• Flexibility to meet individual needs
• Responsive to labour market
• Improved Accountability
• Review 2008

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Sample Projects

• Official Language Minority Communities
• A log home manufacturing company north of
  Montreal was contacted by the Community Economic
  Development and Employability Committee (CEDEC)
  serving the local English community in northern
  Quebec. The company submitted an application to
  the local HRCC for a youth work experience wage
  subsidy under Skills Link. Because the language
  regularly used in the workplace is English, the
  proposal specified an English speaking youth
  participant.
• The 17 year-old participant completed a one-week
  workplace orientation and safety training before
  starting the six-month full-time work experience.
  
• As a result, the participant was offered a
  full-time position based on her performance
  during the subsidized work placement and both the
  employer and the local minority language
  community retained an English speaking youth in a
  rural area of Québec.