Young men with university degrees in Quebec are struggling to find jobs, a recent study has found.
According to the Institut du Québec — a research institute that looks into labour, public finances, economic development and environment — the unemployment rate among young men with university degrees exceeds that of young men as a whole, including those without a bachelor’s degree or higher diplomas.
Among men aged 22 to 26 with a university degree, 11.4 per cent were unemployed in the first seven months of 2025, compared to 9.9 per cent for all men in that age group. The unemployment rate for those young men with a degree is 1.7 times higher than that of their female counterparts in the same age group, which stands at 6.6 per cent.
“Since 2022, the unemployment rate among young university graduates has not only risen significantly, but it is also much higher among men than among women,” reads the study, adding that both groups’ unemployment rates were similar three years ago.
What’s behind the struggles of young male graduates?
Emna Braham, the executive director of the Institut du Québec, said most jobs created in recent years were in the health and education sectors.
“Those are two sectors that recruit overwhelmingly more women,” said Braham.
“So it’s more than 70 per cent of employed in those two sectors that are women. And it’s two sectors that also recruit a lot of university graduates.”
Emna Braham is the executive director of Institut du Québec. (Radio-Canada)
On the other hand, Braham pointed out that the construction and transportation fields are more male-dominated, do not recruit as many university graduates and have not created many jobs in the last three years.
Fabian Lange, a McGill University economics professor, said the “ongoing trade crisis” will probably create a recession, which could exacerbate the problem.
“Individuals graduating into these recessions, their career outcomes look worse even five to 10 years afterwards. They have a harder time landing the type of jobs that are high-paying. They are have a more difficult time putting their foot onto the job ladder,” he said.
Braham stated that even though unemployment among university graduates tends to “disappear or to slow down” when the economy recovers, there remains concern that young men are being discouraged from pursuing university studies due to the difficulty of finding employment with a degree.
“Employers, seeing the risks of tariffs, are being uncertain of what is coming in the next few months [and] are reluctant to have new hires because they’re not sure of what the following months will look like,” she said.
Fabian Lange is a labour economist at McGill University. (Fabian Lange)So, is it worth going to university?
Although now might be a difficult time for young men with university diplomas to get a job, Braham and Lange say that data shows higher education remains a good long-term investment.
“Demands for university graduates is high and it keeps increasing,” said Braham.
According to her, in 1990, there were around 25 per cent more men than women graduating university, and now, the gap has reversed.
“So there is room for improvement in terms of making sure that young men that want to, do go to university,” said Braham.
“When the labour market is sending signal that it doesn’t pay off to go to university, we have to double on the efforts that we put to make sure that young men have the best experience, the best schooling experience.”