Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities

The House of Commons Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities met to study youth employment in Canada. Appearing as witnesses were Robert Henderson, President of BioTalent Canada; Valerie Walker, Chief Executive Officer of the Business and Higher Education Roundtable; Richard Dias, a Global Macro Strategist appearing as an individual; Delaney Krieger, Senior Manager of Career Services at Build a Dream to Empower Women; Abdul Abbasi, Chair of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations; and Wasiimah Joomun, Executive Director of the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations.

Robert Henderson said youth unemployment is rising faster than any other demographic while employers report difficulty filling entry-level roles, creating a cycle where students lack work experience and employers hesitate to hire. He highlighted the Student Work Placement Program (SWPP), which his organization has used to facilitate over 16,000 placements since 2017, with 98% employer satisfaction and more than 50% of positions continuing after the subsidy ends. He recommended making SWPP a permanent, predictably funded foundation of Canada's youth employment strategy, and suggested evolving the program to include microcredentialing and updated definitions of equity-deserving groups.

Valerie Walker said young people are earning credentials but struggling for a first foothold in the labour market, while employers need talent in fields like AI, health care, skilled trades and energy. She recommended three actions: helping youth name and prove their skills through plain-language skills statements and microcredentials; guiding youth to high-demand jobs with regional opportunity maps; and making work-integrated learning the default on-ramp to jobs, including short-cycle experiences and apprenticeship-style learning beyond the skilled trades. She noted that large employers come for scale and simplicity, not wage subsidies, and that federal investment should build capacity and tools that are common across regions.

Richard Dias argued that Canada's recent immigration policy, which tripled population growth through mostly younger, low-skilled temporary residents, was a major policy error that deepened youth unemployment and transferred wealth from the young and working class to the old and wealthy. He cited a Bank of Canada paper showing that the wage gap between non-permanent residents and Canadian-born workers more than doubled, and that the influx intensified competition for entry-level jobs, reduced incentives for employer training and compressed wages. He recommended throttling LMIA-exempt channels, aligning international student intake with housing, enforcing wage standards, and tying employer access to demonstrable training investments.

Delaney Krieger said structural challenges driving youth unemployment include baby boomers delaying retirement, creating a bottleneck that limits upward mobility and blocks entry-level opportunities, as well as credential mismatches for immigrants and rising cost of living forcing more people to work multiple jobs. She recommended supporting intergenerational knowledge transfers in sectors like the skilled trades, investing in credential recognition and upskilling for immigrants, and developing targeted incentives and mentorship initiatives for women and under-represented youth. She emphasized that recruitment investments must be matched with retention and advancement supports, noting that only 30% of women who begin apprenticeship programs complete them.

Abdul Abbasi said post-secondary students face the highest summer unemployment since 1999, excluding COVID years, and that entry-level positions frequently require prior experience, making it difficult to get a foot in the door. He noted that the SWPP has shrunk from supporting 60,000 students annually to 40,000, and recommended longer-term commitments to restore funding to 60,000 positions. He also proposed that the federal government require 10% of hours on major infrastructure and housing projects to be worked by apprentices, citing a 48% decrease in apprenticeship numbers in Alberta.

Wasiimah Joomun said students who apply for jobs are often asked for one or two years of experience, depriving them of income and skill development during their studies. She argued that working while studying is a necessity, not a luxury, and that work-integrated learning helps students gain experience and confidence. She recommended that the government expand existing programs like Canada Summer Jobs and make longer-term commitments to the innovative work-integrated learning initiative to support students across all provinces.

The committee briefly debated a point of order regarding whether testimony on immigration policy was appropriate for the study, with one member characterizing such analysis as anti-immigrant and another member defending it as a necessary data-driven critique of government policy. No motions or votes were recorded.