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Canada youth unemployment Omar Younis, left, speaks with Andrew Johnson, CTV News B.C. bureau chief, right. <\/p>\nConservative shadow minister for employment Garnett Genius says the new data from Statistics Canada shows an \u2018alarming\u2019 unemployment rate for youth. <\/p>\n
Since graduating high school in Metro Vancouver a year and a half ago, 20-year-old Omar Younis says finding a full-time job has been an exercise in rejection.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny job, construction, customer service, sales, anything,\u201d he said, noting the response is often, \u201cWe\u2019re going to call you, we\u2019re going to call you later.\u201dAcross the country in Ottawa, Carleton University student Isrial Thomas says she plans to keep her part-time job even after finishing her studies, in case she can\u2019t secure work in her field. \u201cI don\u2019t see myself quitting under any circumstances,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s a bit scary. I won\u2019t go as far as say, hopeless, but like, it\u2019s intimidating.\u201d<\/p>\n
Statistics Canada data shows many young Canadians may be in the same boat. In the second half of 2025, the youth unemployment rate climbed to levels not seen in more than a decade outside of the pandemic years. Young workers aged 15 to 24 accounted for 27,000 job losses in December, as the youth jobless rate rose to 13.3 per cent.<\/p>\n
Canada youth unemployment Omar Younis, left, speaks with Andrew Johnson, CTV News B.C. bureau chief, right. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe struggles of young people are real,\u201d said Tara Parry, Director of Permanent Placement Services with employment agency Robert Half in Vancouver.<\/p>\n
Parry points to several factors, including uncertainty created by the U.S. trade war slowing hiring decisions and creating fewer entry level openings.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve seen one of our lowest years for general attrition, for a very long time. So, people aren\u2019t leaving the jobs that they\u2019re in,\u201d she said. \u201cAs much as employers were delaying hiring, employees weren\u2019t leaving because they were nervous about moving to something new when the economy is uncertain.\u201d<\/p>\n
The rise of artificial intelligence is also playing a role. Parry acknowledged AI tools are affecting highly repetitive roles that don\u2019t require significant critical thinking, positions that often serve as entry points for young workers, though not necessarily by eliminating jobs altogether.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople who are comfortable with the technology are getting jobs faster than people who are not,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Parry says while AI can help job seekers polish their resume and cover letter, she still believes it is still good old-fashioned networking – connections you can make through family, friends, or a neighbour – that may actually land you a job.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Conservative shadow minister for employment Garnett Genius says the new data from Statistics Canada shows an \u2018alarming\u2019 unemployment…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":400911,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[62,712,276,277,49,48,61],"class_list":["post-405709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-apple-news","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405709","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=405709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405709\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/400911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=405709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=405709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=405709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}