What are the odds? Finding summer employment in the Maritimes

Thousands of high school and university students are looking for summer jobs, but employment isn’t always easy to find.

If you know a young person who is struggling to find employment, you’re not alone.

According to Statistics Canada, the youth unemployment rate is 13.4 per cent for people aged 15 to 24.

That’s a number that shouldn’t be the norm, says Rebekah Skeete, the director of employment services for the YMCA of Greater Halifax/Dartmouth.

“That’s high, it’s really high,” she says. “Even if you’re looking at the stats pre-COVID, they were lower than that.”

The focus should be on finding solutions, she says, which starts with employers giving more consideration to the next generation, “because, in many cases, they will be pleasantly surprised.”

It all paints a troubling picture for Manan Rajput, a third-year student at Dalhousie University.

“I think that’s kind of crazy, because we’re the future,” says the 20-year-old. “People have to get multiple jobs just to survive, which is definitely contributing to the lack of jobs for people, or the youth to get, in general.”

After committing two months to tailoring resumes and cover letters for dozens of job opportunities, he gave up on finding work and is now focusing on school.

“It’s tough, I’m not going to lie,” he says. “It was just me putting consistent effort, like basically every day, and then not really getting anything from that.

“I did manage to score a few interviews, but unfortunately, that didn’t really lead anywhere,” he says.

Skeete says the labour market is shifting.

“In previous years, youth could change jobs every week. They could have had a job in one week, and, if they didn’t like it, it was a job seeker’s market,” she says. “Now [...] they’re finding that it’s harder to tap in; maybe they don’t have the experience.”

She saw the proof when she interviewed a youth on Wednesday.

“He indicated that he submitted over 60 resumes and still was unable to secure employment,” Skeete says. “This is a high school student.”

She’s not alone in encouraging business owners and employers to take a chance on young people.

Françoise Métras, the operations manager at Job Junction, says her colleague has noticed a “good” trend so far, “seeing students getting a little bit more interviews and even some job offers compared to last summer.”

She argues there are benefits to hiring younger, despite sometimes not having much work experience.

“[They may have] some recent skills, but also some solid comfort level with technology and AI and things like that,” says Métras. “So, I think there may be a shift there to a little bit more openness.”

The next youth unemployment rate will be announced next month as part of the latest Statistics Canada labour market survey.

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