Youth Unemployment Rate More Than Double National Average: Statistics Canada

Thai Express, a food court quick service restaurant that is part of MTY Food Group Inc., is seen in a mall in Montreal on Dec. 2, 2024. The Canadian Press/Christinne Muschi

The unemployment rate among Canadians aged 15 to 24 reached 14.1 percent in February—more than twice the national average of 6.7 percent that month, according to Statistics Canada.

The youth jobless rate peaked at 14.6 percent in September 2025, its highest level in 15 years outside the COVID-19 pandemic, the agency said. It later fell to 13.3 percent in December, rose again in February, and eased slightly to 13.8 percent in March.

Regionally, Ontario recorded the highest youth unemployment rate among provinces, reaching 17.1 percent in the third quarter of 2025.

Nationally, the overall unemployment rate stood at 6.8 percent at the end of 2025, after briefly rising above 7 percent in August and September. The employment rate was 60.9 percent in December, up from a four-year low of 60.5 percent in August.

Statistics Canada noted that Ontario and Alberta accounted for most net job growth in late 2025, but those gains were partially offset by employment declines in early 2026, driven largely by losses among private-sector workers and concentrated in Ontario and Quebec.

The weaker youth labour market comes amid broader issues affecting Canada’s economy and job market.

Escalating trade tensions and broader economic uncertainty slowed hiring activity in 2025. From January to August, the job-finding rate—the share of job seekers who moved into employment each month—averaged 18.1 percent, down from 21.0 percent during the same period in 2024, the report says.

Labour market conditions improved later in the year, with hiring activity strengthening in the fall. From September to December 2025, the job-finding rate rose to an average of 22.1 percent, above the 21.0 percent recorded in the final four months of 2024.

Long-term unemployment stayed high throughout 2025, Statistics Canada says. In December 2025, of the 1.55 million unemployed people, 21.9 percent had been looking for work for 27 weeks or more. This was slightly higher than the year before, and was driven in part by an increase among core-age workers. Also in that month, there were 505,900 vacant positions, a decrease of 29,100 over the previous year. Since mid-2024, the share of long-term unemployed has remained well above pre-pandemic levels, the report says.

The weaker youth labour market comes as broader structural pressures on Canada’s workforce are expected to intensify in the coming decades.

In the long-term, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) warns that population aging and declining fertility will continue to weigh on growth by reducing the share of working-age Canadians and increasing pressure on public finances.

By 2060, the number of elderly people per working-age person in the OECD, which consists of 38 member countries, is projected to rise by about 67 percent, the organization said in a 2025 report. In Canada, the employment-to-population ratio is expected to fall by nearly 3 percentage points, while the old-age dependency ratio will increase significantly, meaning fewer workers will support more retirees.