Workforce WindsorEssex\u00a0has launched its\u00a0Youth Employment Work Plan\u00a0in a bid to tackle unemployment among young people.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The work plan touches on local trends in youth unemployment data, with analysis on gender, race\u00a0and education.<\/p>\n
The plan\u00a0“calls attention to the barriers young people face and provides practical, community-driven solutions to improve access to employment,”\u00a0CEO of Workforce WindsorEssex\u00a0Justin Falconer said in a press release.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I feel like the biggest barriers young people face is the lack of confidence.-\u00a0<\/p>\n
The work plan will implement a number of resources, including\u00a0a youth employment portal, a device donation program, a youth-friendly advertising guidebook\u00a0and an accessible skills assessment tool. These are supported by a\u00a0$189,000 grant from the provincial government’s Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF).<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/yep-mikal.jpg\")
Mikal Fakhreddin is project coordinator and research analyst for WorkForce WindsorEssex. (Jason Viau\/CBC)At a launch event, Mikal Fakhreddin, the project coordinator and\u00a0research analyst for WorkForce WindsorEssex,\u00a0says that young people seeking work are often subject to societal baggage.<\/p>\n
“Generally we’ve found that there’s a misconception when it comes to youth,” Fakhreddin said. “They’re generally treated as lazy workers and [lacking] in soft skills.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
One of the resources that the Youth Employment Work Plan has emphasized is the youth employment portal, which Fakhreddin\u00a0says will help to demystify job applications for young people.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“It’s a one-stop-shop for youth-focused employment resources,” she said. “We really want one location where youth can find all the resources they’re looking for when it comes to employment … Our goal is to ease the exploration process.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
Gender gap<\/p>\n
Recently,\u00a0Windsor regained its position as the city with the highest unemployment rate in Canada.<\/p>\n
According to Statistics Canada, Windsor’s unemployment rate at a seasonally adjusted three-month moving average of 11.2 per cent\u00a0\u2013\u00a0and that data revealed that joblessness in Windsor disproportionately impacts men.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When it comes to unemployed youth, Workforce WindsorEssex’s\u00a0Work Plan points out that the gap between male and female unemployment is also stark.<\/p>\n
According to their data,\u00a0in 2024 male unemployment reached 22.1 per cent\u00a0compared to the female rate of 14 per cent.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/yep-dowie.jpg\")
Andrew Dowie, MPP for Windsor-Tecumseh, was in attendance at today’s event. (Jason Viau\/CBC)<\/p>\n
Fakhreddin\u00a0says, although they are not entirely sure, this could be a trend among entry-level employment.<\/p>\n
“We’re not too sure, but we’ve found that youth-centred jobs usually hire more women,” she said. “We’ve also found that men historically have more experience with substance abuse, mental health problems [and] housing.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hoping for success<\/p>\n
Andrew Dowie, MPP for Windsor-Tecumseh says the labour market has changed in the last few decades.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“We’ve had so much more automation, so many fewer opportunities to do more routine types of roles,” he says. “Having those youth employment opportunities helps you as a young person in building your confidence.”<\/p>\n
Daniella Adekyoa\u00a0was a part of the youth advisory committee that helped\u00a0to shape the work plan and she will attend the University of Windsor in the fall.<\/p>\n
She\u00a0says that as a young person\u00a0confidence plays a huge role in gaining employment as a young person.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I’ve seen first hand [how] challenging\u00a0it can be\u00a0for young people to not only find jobs, but opportunities that align with their passions, [can] help them grow and actually support their future,” she said. “I feel like the biggest barriers young people face is the lack of confidence.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Workforce WindsorEssex\u00a0has launched its\u00a0Youth Employment Work Plan\u00a0in a bid to tackle unemployment among young people.\u00a0 The work plan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38505,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[45,49,48,124],"class_list":["post-38504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jobs","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-jobs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38504","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=38504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38504\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}