Tia Shaw, 15, has applied for five jobs in Kamloops, B.C., over the past week. Her friend, 16-year-old Spade Luce, has applied for seven.
Neither have heard anything back.
“You show up and go with a resume and then ask to talk to the manager,” Luce said. “A lot of the time they don’t call back.
“I think they might not be hiring. In my opinion, my resume is very professional and I’ve had multiple work experiences.”
They’re not alone — youth employment continues to fall, according to Statistics Canada. Its most recent survey showed the rate of employment in youth aged 15 to 24 fell 0.7 percentage points to 53.6 per cent last month — the lowest since November 1998 (except for 2020 and 2021 when the COVID-19 pandemic was in full force).
Vincent Ferraro, an analyst with Statistics Canada’s Centre for Labour Market Information, said industries like retail, food services and hospitality are showing a particular “weakness” in the job market — all areas younger folks usually find work.
According to Janet Morrise-Reade, CEO of the Association of Service Providers for Employability and Career Training B.C., the latest numbers are no surprise.
“The statistics are alarming,” she said. “What is the impact going to be on youth later down, later on down their work pathway?”
Morris-Reade said the pandemic changed the labour market drastically, and uncertainty around tariffs has forced employers to make cuts and hold off on hiring as a precaution.
“None of that is building confidence, especially for the youth who are entering the workplace right now.”
As a result, younger people don’t have the experience needed to get a job — but they’ll never get that experience if no one hires them to build those skills.
“We hear stories of youth applying for 100, 200 [jobs] and not hearing back at all from employers and not even receiving any notification, let alone an interview,’ Morris-Reade said.
“That is soul crushing for an entire generation.”
Meanwhile, some employers say young people don’t want to work.
“I’m 36 years old, and I find anyone around that generation or even the younger generation don’t really want to work the hours that’s needed, just overall people don’t want to work,” said Benny Kerner, the owner of a Kamloops butcher shop.
He said he thinks workers only want enough money to get by day-to-day, and aren’t concerned with building up savings for the future.
Youth unemployment high while some employers trying to hire
What a person could accomplish working minimum wage jobs in B.C. has changed drastically in the last 30 years.
Minimum wage in the province is currently $17.85 per hour. The average cost of a home across the province in July was $942,686, according to the B.C. Real Estate Association.
In July 1995, the minimum wage was $6.50. The average cost of a home in B.C., according to the federal government, was $190,371.
Minimum wage is 2.75 times higher than it was 30 years ago, but the cost of a home is nearly five times higher.
Shane Wallace, the executive red seal chef and owner of Four Wind’s eatery in Falkland, B.C., agrees younger workers’ priorities have shifted. His children are working four days a week, as opposed to the five days he’s used to.
“I never grew up that way, so I’m trying to wrap my head around it.”
He’s struggling to find qualified workers for his restaurant. He said he received 38 resumes in 24 hours, but none of them met his qualifications. They lacked experience and communication skills, Wallace said.
“What I’m getting is almost an entitlement, that you want them more than they want to have a job. They feel entitled that they are not going to do some of the nitty-gritty that it takes to get a job done.”
Morris-Reade said these kinds of complaints are nothing new.
“I think that there’s a disconnect between what the job seekers are needing and what the employers are needing,” she said.
She reminds employers that young people of today missed out on some work-related education during the pandemic — things like work ethic and communication. But, Morris-Reade said, that shouldn’t dissuade employers from hiring them. Instead, they could support and guide them.
“Yes, youth are a bit of a risk to hire, but I think in my experience as an employer, hiring youth is really dynamic and can create an incredibly wonderful work environment for everybody that works at your organization.”
Like young people across the country, Luce and Shaw are facing challenges trying to find a job. But it’s even tougher in cities like Kamloops, where they live; Kamloops has the highest unemployment rate in the country, sitting at 10.7 per cent, Statistics Canada’s survey shows.
This is in stark contrast to nearby Kelowna, B.C., where the unemployment rate is 4.7 per cent. The provincial unemployment rate is 5.9 per cent, Ferraro said, while the national average was about 6.9 per cent in July.
Ferraro said this could be for any number of reasons.
“People have to juggle work balances, life balances, and so some might not be able to join the labour market because they might have to take care of family responsibilities, or they might be wanting to be in school full time. So, you know, there’s all kinds of reasons why somebody would not be able to take a job right away, but it’s a question of time.”
