Canada, G7 urge 'all parties' to de-escalate in growing Mideast conflict
Canada called for "all parties" to de-escalate rising tensions in the Mideast following an apparent Israeli drone attack against Iran overnight.
New data from Statistics Canada shows that while youth unemployment has risen during the COVID-19 pandemic, finding full-time work has been increasingly precarious since the late 1980s.
The federal agency reported on Monday both male and female workers between 15 and 30 were less likely to have a full-time job in 2019 compared with 1989, a period marked by a rise in part-time employment for the age group.
And some 40 years later, the pandemic has caused further upheaval as the percentage of young people not employed or in school rose almost four percentage points from 2019 to 2020.
The overall unemployment rates for youth rose about six percentage points between 2019 and 2020, the agency noted, which is just about double the rate found with other age groups.
Young people who would've entered the job market in 2020 are now doing it this year and could see lower earnings, StatCan projects.
The effect of the pandemic has been particularly notable on young workers, said Arif Jetha, a scientist at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto, since young people tend to be the first to feel the shocks of economic upheaval.
"Their tenure is shorter, they're newer to organizations, they're also more likely to work precariously and in jobs that might be more affected by fluctuations in our economic landscape," said Jetha in an interview.
Aside from jobs, internships and work placements were cancelled in the early stages of the pandemic, he added, tools young people often use as the starting blocks for their career.
Those not enrolled in full-time study saw their employment rates drop around eight percentage points, while rates for other age groupsdropped only about four percentage points in the same time.
StatCan says pay rates rose for younger employees, but that phenomenon was driven in large part by a reduction in low-paying jobs that were previously held by younger employees.
And young people entering the workforce as the pandemic continues may also prove to be difficult, Jetha added, calling the current job environment an "unpredictable" one for youth.
Jehta also spoke of a "misperception" there tended to be around millennial and Gen Z workers about a desire to have more flexible jobs before the onset of the pandemic. He disagrees, however.
"I think many people desired stability. I think what a lot of young people were increasingly seeing was that these types of jobs, high-quality jobs ... are becoming less and less available," he said, which has been exacerbated by the pandemic.
"Before the pandemic, there seemed to be this diminishing quality of work that we were already seeing."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 26, 2021.
-- -- --
This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship.
Canada called for "all parties" to de-escalate rising tensions in the Mideast following an apparent Israeli drone attack against Iran overnight.
Hospital chaplain J.S. Park opens up about death, grief and hearing thousands of last words, and shares his advice for the living.
A woman who recently moved to Canada from India was searching for a job when she got caught in an online job scam and lost $15,000.
More money will land in the pockets of some Canadian families on Friday for the latest Canada Child Benefit installment.
The World Health Organization and around 500 experts have agreed for the first time on what it means for a disease to spread through the air, in a bid to avoid the confusion early in the COVID-19 pandemic that some scientists have said cost lives.
American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer, one of two men charged in the killings of a Canadian couple in Dominica, has been denied bail.
The United States told the Group of Seven foreign ministers on Friday that it received 'last minute' information from Israel about a drone action in Iran, but didn't participate in the apparent attack, officials said.
Group of Seven foreign ministers warned of new sanctions against Iran on Friday for its drone and missile attack on Israel, and urged both sides to avoid an escalation of the conflict.
Prince Harry, the son of King Charles III and fifth in line to the British throne, has formally confirmed he is now a U.S. resident.
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.
Molly Knight, a grade four student in Nova Scotia, noticed her school library did not have many books on female athletes, so she started her own book drive in hopes of changing that.
Almost 7,000 bars of pure gold were stolen from Pearson International Airport exactly one year ago during an elaborate heist, but so far only a tiny fraction of that stolen loot has been found.
When Les Robertson was walking home from the gym in North Vancouver's Lower Lonsdale neighbourhood three weeks ago, he did a double take. Standing near a burrow it had dug in a vacant lot near East 1st Street and St. Georges Avenue was a yellow-bellied marmot.
A moulting seal who was relocated after drawing daily crowds of onlookers in Greater Victoria has made a surprise return, after what officials described as an 'astonishing' six-day journey.
Just steps from Parliament Hill is a barber shop that for the last 100 years has catered to everyone from prime ministers to tourists.
A high score on a Foo Fighters pinball machine has Edmonton player Dave Formenti on a high.
A compound used to treat sour gas that's been linked to fertility issues in cattle has been found throughout groundwater in the Prairies, according to a new study.