Canada’s youth are being squeezed by higher labour costs, automation, and a wave of unemployed immigrants looking for work, pushing youth unemployment sharply upward since the pandemic, according to a new report from Desjardins.
The report comes as the youth unemployment rate for Canadians aged 15 to 24 hit 14.6 percent in July, its highest level since September 2010 excluding the 2020 and 2021 pandemic years, according to Statistics Canada. Canada’s overall unemployment rate rose to 7.1 percent in August, the highest it’s been since May 2016, also excluding 2020 and 2021.
