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FINA Committee Report

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COMPLEMENTARY REPORT FOR
THE NEW DEMOCRATIC PARTY (NDP)


The Official Opposition members of the Standing Finance Committee would firstly like to thank the witnesses who took the time to present their views and solutions on the issue of youth unemployment in Canada.

We are pleased to support the main report. However, in response to the views expressed by the witnesses, important remarks should be added concerning the global economic context which influences the structure of our labour market, as well as the responses of the government regarding especially some of the major challenges that youth face in the labour market.

Unfortunately, since the Conservative government came to power, the situation has steadily deteriorated, and it is obvious that youth employment does not appear to be a priority for this government. 

Indeed, as stated in the committee main report, Canadian youth still suffer to this day from the effects of the economic crisis. While employment growth for the entire population was not sufficient to recover the jobs lost during the crisis, young people have been particularly affected. More than 455,000 jobs for people under 25 have been lost since before the recession. And the unemployment rate stubbornly now double that of the population aged 25 years and older.

The recovery is slow, and the affected areas are still precarious several years after the crisis. Amy Huziak, for the Canadian Labour Congress, rightly said that "Recessions are always harder on young workers, but we are nearly five years past the end of the last recession and there's still no recovery in sight for young workers[1]."

The Conference Board of Canada has confirmed this data, noting "We have not seen one iota of pickup with respect to that cohort [15-24 years]. Employment levels are about the same as they were, participation rates have not picked up at all, and I think we've missed an opportunity here to get youth back into the labour market[2]."

The New Democratic Party (NDP) is deeply concerned by the situation of the labour market for young Canadians and refuses to accept soaring levels of youth unemployment as normal.,

Leadership: Collaboration with the provinces and territories.


We firmly believe that the federal government can show leadership in helping create jobs for young people. This will require collaborating with the provinces rather than picking jurisdictional battles.

It has a responsibility to work with the provinces on areas of education, training and apprenticeships in order to ensure better opportunities and outcomes for youth in the labour market. The federal government’s action to date has been insufficient in the face of the problem.

Aboriginal youth.


Joe Noel of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) testified about the troubling gap between the graduation rates of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students. He told Committee that the post-secondary graduation rate on reserve is about 14.4% compared to 39.1% for non-aboriginal population. Even more troubling, high-school graduation rates are just 36.8% on reserve compared with 66.8% for the broader population.

"The First Nations population is young and growing fast. Fully half of our population of 930,000 is under the age of 25[3]; [but] unfortunately, as it stands right now, the majority of first nations youth have not graduated high school[4]". Regrettably, the Federal government has contributed to this situation by consistently underfunding First Nations education and schools.

Thus, although the committee has agreed to recommend extending the ASETS training strategy for skills and employment for Aboriginal people, the NDP would have preferred to go further by recommending an increase in budget for this successful program. In addition, this program alone is far from sufficient, and we hope that the government takes into account the work of the Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development (AANO) on these issues.

Barriers to employment.


The cost of postsecondary education.

The NDP believes that education is a major factor in social mobility. In fact, in the study on income inequality, witnesses were near unanimous in identifying postsecondary education, financial literacy and early childhood education as important measures to reduce income inequality and its consequences. Again,  in this study, the link between a high level of education and a lower unemployment rate was re-established by all witnesses. Similarly, on the cost of education, all witnesses agree that the ability to pursue post-secondary education enables young people to increase their opportunities on the labor market, as well as their conditions of employment.

What is more difficult to accept for the government, is the link between greater access to education and student debt. However, several witnesses, including the Canadian Federation of Students, emphasized that "You cannot separate the level of debt a student is currently incurring to obtain the skills they need to work from their ability to find successful employment within that field [5]". However, financial aid is scarce, because "unlike the cost of education, the level of federal financial aid available to students has not moved for nearly a decade.[6]" No wonder that an increasing number of students have trouble repaying their loans.

In fact, the Canadian Federation of Students noted that "the costs of postsecondary education [in Canada] are nearly double the OECD average" [while] the total "student debt is estimated at about $ 28.3 billion"; it is clear that "[...] High levels of debt are impacting young Canadians' ability to integrate and participate in the broader economy upon graduation.[7]" That is why the NDP has made ​​the following recommendation:

Recommendation 1: That the Government of Canada should provide greater assistance in the form of grants and thus directly reduce student debt.

The labour market and youth.

Simply taking account of unemployment rates masks a number of other realities that young people experience in the labour market.

  1. Precarious employment. Precarious, temporary and part-time jobs, with reduced or even non-existent benefits are a reality for many young workers, whose situation is not reflected in the statistics. According to the Canadian Labour Congress, "[...] unemployment isn't the only issue that needs to be addressed. One third of young workers are employed part time, and many are in low-wage, temporary, and otherwise insecure employment, with a large contingent located in the retail and service sector, which is notoriously insecure. Too many young workers are underemployed [...]. We calculate the underemployment rate for young workers aged 15 to 24 to be 27.7% for 2013. This is a significant number. [8]" The competition is becoming increasingly fierce in the labour market and, the transition to the workplace for young post-secondary graduates is increasingly difficult.
  2. Unpaid internships. The increasingly frequent use of unpaid internships by employers also poses a particular challenge for young Canadians. The NDP agrees that there are good internship programs associated with academic institutions that help young Canadians benefit from a first work experience relevant and improve their career prospects. However, several witnesses denounced the trend among some employers to use unpaid internships as a prerequisite to employment, as a way to fill positions that would otherwise be paid and which do not necessarily lead to the acquisition of relevant experience for the career of the young worker. Fortunately, the Committee adopted a recommendation regarding the collection of data on unpaid internships in Canada; however we would have liked a stronger emphasis on the need for better management of this practice, through amendments to the Canada Labour Code to ensure better working conditions.
  3. Temporary foreign workers. Youth also face particular competition on the labour market from the growth of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP). The problem, according to some witnesses, is that "It's very hard to know where the numbers are exactly, but let's say there are 300,000 perhaps in the workforce today. It would add 1.5% to the unemployment rate.[9]" Indeed, foreign workers admitted under the low-skilled occupations stream of the TFWP are in "direct competition with young people[10]" and the program "is preventing the market from working within Canada.[11]" Such a program may result in downward pressure on wages in lower-skilled employment sectors, which is typically where young people have their first work experience. Despite the fact that the government has announced a moratorium on the TFWP in the area of ​​fast food, it seems to have no intention to revise the program as a whole, which is still badly needed. The government must take action against employers who abuse the program and protect jobs and employment opportunities for young Canadians.

Recommendation 2: That the Government of Canada impose an immediate moratorium on the use of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program for lower-skilled occupations, which includes fast-food, service and restaurant jobs and request an urgent audit of the program by the Auditor General..

Youth with disabilities.


Youth with disabilities also face great challenges in the labour market: a more difficult transition from school to work, reduced support services to meet their individual needs and job opportunities , and ignorance of their actual capabilities. Youth with disabilities are more educated than ever, however, as indicated by one witness " [...] the employment rate of youth with disabilities aged 16 to 24 was 45.7% in 2011] and for the same age cohort among those without disabilities it was 56%.[12]" Despite the committee's recommendation to encourage hiring, and to facilitate their transition from school to the labour market; the government must finally stop procrastinating and take action to enable young people benefit from better opportunities to enter the labour market permanently.

Childcare Program.


One witness reported the results of a survey of students who stated that "60% of students will postpone buying a house because of their debt and 40% will postpone their plans to start a family.[13]" Thus, the first job is not everything. Another issue of great importance then comes into play for "young professionals": the work-family balance.

Tammy Schirle, Associate Professor of Wilfrid Laurier University came to testify to the fact that "child care is really vital for women to enter into the labour force when their children are younger. […] When women first start out in the labour market in that 25- to 29-year-old range, the gap isn't very large. [...] It's after a few years, when they've had to take departures out of the labour force for child care and other reasons, that they have some skill depreciation […]. Improving the child care system, I think of this as a market failure, and improving the child care system to better facilitate young women in the labour force would certainly have its benefits, in my opinion.[14]"

Recommendation 3: That the government of Canada work with the provinces and territories to improve access to affordable, quality child care and early childhood education programs to help young parents fully participate in the labour market if they wish to do so.


[1] Amy Huziak, National Representative, Young Workers, Canadian Labour Congress, FINA Meeting 23, March 6th 2014

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid.

[6] Jonathan Champagne, National Director, Canadian Alliance for Students’ Associations, Meeting 25, March 27th 2014

[7] Ibid.

[8] Amy Huziak, National Representative, Young Workers, Canadian Labour Congress, Meeting 23, March 6th 2014

[9]  Pedro Antunes, Executive Director and Deputy Chief Economist, Conference Board of Canada, Meeting 24, March 25th 2014

[11] Tammy Schirle, Associate Professor, Department of Economics, Wilfrid Laurier University, As an Individual, Meeting 24, March 25 2014

[12] Frank Smith, National Coordinator, National Educational Association of Disabled Students, Meeting 26, April 1st 2014.

[13] Tierry Morel-Laforce, President, Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec, Meeting 26, April 1st avril 2014

[14] Tammy Schirle, Associate Professor, Department of Economics, Wilfrid Laurier University, As an Individual, Meeting 24, March 25 2014