Thousands of young people crowded into Calgary\u2019s Big Four building this week, hoping face\u2011to\u2011face conversations might succeed where online applications have gone unanswered.<\/p>\n
Calgary\u2019s annual Youth Hiring Fair drew a large turnout as teens and young adults searched for work in what many describe as a discouraging job market.<\/p>\n
Seventeen\u2011year\u2011old Thomas MacDonald has been trying for months to land a position in construction or at the zoo. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve applied to probably around 30 places and have gotten about zero replies,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s far from alone.<\/p>\n
Jacob Weaselchild said he hasn\u2019t heard back from any employer he\u2019s contacted. <\/p>\n
\u201cNone of them have gotten back, no email, no text, nothing,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Chelaine Smokeyday\u2011Dreaver has had a similar experience. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve applied to at least 20 jobs since January, online and in\u2011person, and every time I haven\u2019t received an email back or anything or even an interview,\u201d she says. \u201cIt just always goes ghost.\u201d<\/p>\n
Economists say the frustration is rooted in broader labour trends.<\/p>\n
Alberta saw a surge of new residents in 2025, but job growth didn\u2019t keep pace. Concerns over tariffs also pushed some companies to slow or freeze hiring.<\/p>\n
ATB Chief Economist Mark Parsons says youth unemployment has improved but remains elevated. The rate has dropped from 20 per cent to about 15, but it\u2019s still well above the typical level of around 10 per cent. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe should expect to see some modest improvement in 2026,\u201d Parsons said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s not because there\u2019s going to be a surge in hiring in our view, but because we are reaching more of a balanced labour market, jobs are catching up to the people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the challenges, some sectors continue to face worker shortages. Trades, construction and tourism remain in need of new talent, creating opportunities for young job seekers willing to step into those fields.<\/p>\n
At the fair, employers in the trades were eager to meet candidates.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re looking to hire as much as is willing to come,\u201d said Mark Paiva, a service roofing foreman with the Flynn Group of Companies. \u201cThe good thing about the trades, in my opinion, is you can get out there and if you meet the right people and you are persistent, and you show you want to work and want to learn, I think there\u2019s endless opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thousands of young people crowded into Calgary\u2019s Big Four building this week, hoping face\u2011to\u2011face conversations might succeed where…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":563649,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194293],"tags":[49,2798,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-563648","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-calgary","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-calgary","10":"tag-canada"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563648","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=563648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563648\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/563649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=563648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=563648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=563648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}