Since 2022 the jobless rate among youth has risen 5.5 percentage points. (Credit: Laura Pedersen\/National Post)
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As students head back to school this week, spare a thought for the young. It\u2019s tough to be under 25 these days.<\/p>\n
Not only has the jobless rate<\/a> for youth climbed to heights in Canada normally only seen during a recession<\/a>, a global study also suggests youth are now the unhappiest age group of all \u2014 to the extent that the mid-life crisis has become obsolete.<\/p>\n \u201cThe increase in youth unemployment<\/a> in recent years has gone above and beyond what we would have expected to see given the broader economic backdrop,\u201d said Andrew Grantham, senior economist with CIBC Capital Markets.<\/p>\n The age group of 15 to 24 is typically hit first when the labour market softens, but Grantham\u2019s research suggests this time it\u2019s worse than normal.<\/p>\n Normally, youth unemployment rises 4 percentage points in a period of weakness, but since 2022 the jobless rate among youth has shot up 5.5 percentage points.<\/p>\n Not only do 15-24 year-olds face \u201csignificant struggles\u201d to find work, a rise in 20-24 year-olds working part-time suggests full-time jobs are hard to find.<\/p>\n One explanation is that Canada\u2019s population boom<\/a> between 2022 and 2024 increased the supply of young workers, resulting in a rise in the jobless rate as labour demand failed to keep up with the increased supply. Grantham says this explains more than half of the excess unemployment among 15 to 24 year-olds, but not all.<\/p>\n With population growth\u2019s sharp decline recently, especially among students, it can\u2019t explain this year\u2019s spikes in youth unemployment.<\/p>\n Early data suggests artificial intelligence<\/a> is playing a role, he said. While studies suggest youth will in the long-run benefit most from AI, people under 25 are more likely to work in areas at the most risk of AI disruption right now.<\/p>\n The theory that other factors are contributing to the weakness is supported by a rise in youth unemployment in other countries, even those where the labour market has been more resilient. In the United States, the jobless rate for youth has climbed almost 2 percentage points, far exceeding the 0.5 per cent increase for older workers.<\/p>\n The plight of today\u2019s youth is the focus of another study that concludes that people under 25 are the unhappiest age group in 167 United Nations countries, including Canada.<\/p>\n For years the path of happiness has been considered U-shaped, starting with a high in the carefree days of youth, declining in middle age and then rising again in retirement.<\/p>\n The study by economists David G. Blanchflower and Alex Bryson<\/a> turns this on its head and concludes that the midlife crisis has been replaced by a rise in despair among the young.<\/p>\n Story Continues <\/p>\n \u201cThis disappearance of a mid-life crisis has been driven by the decline in the mental health of the young, and is particularly evident for young people ages 12-25, and especially young women,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n Theirs is the first paper to show that this is primarily due to a change in the mental health of young workers.<\/p>\n The rise of \u201cgig work,\u201d the demise of unions, hybrid and remote work, along with closer technological monitoring by employers have all created greater uncertainty and insecurity among young people entering the workforce.<\/p>\n \u00a0Sign up here<\/a> to get Posthaste delivered straight to your inbox.<\/p>\n Canadians got their first view of the full impact of U.S. tariffs on the economy \u2014 and it wasn\u2019t good. Gross domestic product suffered its sharpest contraction<\/a> since the pandemic in the second quarter, driven by a \u201csignificant\u201d drop in exports.<\/p>\n Tariff uncertainty also cooled businesses\u2019 investment in machinery and equipment, which plummeted by 33 per cent, the fourth sharpest decline in history, said economists with National Bank of Canada.<\/p>\n Statistics Canada revised its advance GDP for June down to -0.1 per cent, and estimates just 0.1 per cent growth in July, suggesting that economic weakness will continue into the third quarter, they said.<\/p>\n \u201cThis economy seems in dire need of a trade agreement to give businesses greater visibility,\u201d said National. \u201cIn the meantime, the Bank of Canada can provide a little extra help while waiting for the federal government\u2019s budget plans.\u201d<\/p>\n Real estate boards in Canada\u2019s major cities are set to report their latest monthly data on home sales, listings and pricing. Calgary kicks off on Tuesday, followed by Vancouver on Wednesday and the Greater Toronto Area on Thursday<\/p>\n Today\u2019s Data: United States ISM manufacturing, construction spending<\/p>\n Earnings: Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc<\/p>\n Fraudulent investment ads featuring deepfakes of celebrities and politicians from Mark Carney to Wayne Gretzky have been inundating social media feeds and duping people with the promise of massive returns. As Canadians spend more of their time and money in the digital sphere, online scams are growing and swindling them out of millions of dollars. The Financial Post breaks down the numbers behind investment fraud, who is most vulnerable, red flags to look out for and what you should do once you have identified that your financial safety has been compromised. Find out more<\/a><\/p>\n Are you worried about having enough for retirement? Do you need to adjust your portfolio? Are you starting out or making a change and wondering how to build wealth? Are you trying to make ends meet? Drop us a line at\u00a0wealth@postmedia.com<\/a>\u00a0with your contact info and the gist of your problem and we\u2019ll find some experts to help you out while writing a Family Finance story about it (we\u2019ll keep your name out of it, of course).<\/p>\n Want to learn more about mortgages? Mortgage strategist Robert McLister\u2019s Financial Post column <\/a>can help navigate the complex sector, from the latest trends to financing opportunities you won\u2019t want to miss. Plus check his mortgage rate page<\/a> for Canada\u2019s lowest national mortgage rates, updated daily.<\/p>\n Visit the Financial Post\u2019s YouTube channel<\/a> for interviews with Canada\u2019s leading experts in business, economics, housing, the energy sector and more.<\/p>\n Today\u2019s Posthaste was written by Pamela Heaven<\/a> with additional reporting from Financial Post staff, The Canadian Press and Bloomberg.<\/p>\n Have a story idea, pitch, embargoed report, or a suggestion for this newsletter? Email us at\u00a0posthaste@postmedia.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don\u2019t miss the business news you need to know \u2014 add\u00a0financialpost.com<\/a>\u00a0to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Since 2022 the jobless rate among youth has risen 5.5 percentage points. (Credit: Laura Pedersen\/National Post) As students…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":116125,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[45,49,48,46,5976,65048,13740,36794,125,12174,12051],"class_list":["post-116124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-economy","tag-jobless-rate","tag-mid-life-crisis","tag-national-bank-of-canada","tag-percentage-points","tag-unemployment","tag-young-workers","tag-youth-unemployment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a>
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