Question Period Note: Canada Summer Jobs / Investing in Youth, Strengthening the Workforce

Program funding and targets for Canada Summer Jobs

• The Government recognizes that many youth continue to face employment challenges.

• We know that youth are twice as likely to be unemployed compared to the general population. This is why the Government remains committed to creating opportunities for young Canadians to connect with jobs and skills development opportunities to launch their professional lives.

• This summer, Canada Summer Jobs will create at least 70,000 jobs nationwide.

• Young people will have the chance to work in their communities, including in sectors facing labour shortages, such as housing construction.

• By investing wisely in a program that has been proven to improve labour market outcomes for youth, the Government is strengthening Canada’s workforce and building a more resilient economy for the future.

Current Labour Market Outlook

• Youth unemployment continues to rise and has been on an upward trend since January 2024.
o In April 2025, the unemployment rate for youth (aged 15 to 24) was 14.1%, up 1.2 percentage points from April 2024.
o In contrast, the unemployment rate for individuals over the age of 25 was 5.7% in April 2025.
• Certain groups remain disproportionately affected, including youth with disabilities, Indigenous youth, Black youth, and racialized youth, who often experience higher rates of unemployment than their peers.

• Broader socio-economic challenges further compound these difficulties. Statistics Canada reports that about 30% of youth aged 15 to 24 struggle to make ends meet, with young Canadians allocating a larger share of their income to housing costs compared to older generations. Moreover, youth express lower levels of satisfaction and diminished optimism about the future.

CANADA SUMMER JOBS

• CSJ, delivered by ESDC under the YESS, provides wage subsidies to employers from not-for-profit organizations, the public sector, and private sector organizations with 50 or fewer full-time employees, to create high-quality summer employment opportunities for youth aged 15-30.

• Demand for CSJ far exceeds available funding each year, with the program supporting 70,000 job opportunities annually since 2023.

• CSJ 2025 was launched on April 21, 2025. CSJ work opportunities are posted on an ongoing basis on Job Bank from April 21 to July 21, 2025. The program is on track to meet its 70,000 job target, consistent with previous years.

Program Outcomes

• Recent studies confirm the effectiveness of CSJ in having improved long-term employment outcomes for youth:
o The YESS 2024 summative evaluation found that youth who participated in CSJ experienced higher wages, lower reliance on income support, and stronger workforce retention.
o The 2024 Office of the Auditor General of Canada audit determined that CSJ successfully connects youth with employers, and that program participants benefited from better long-term labour market outcomes and earnings compared to non-participants.
o The audit recommended that the Department continue to improve its efforts to increase the participation of youth facing barriers, better inform stakeholders on the objectives on the program, and focus its results on outcomes. ESDC has already begun to address the recommendations.

Funding Allocation for CSJ

• CSJ is uniquely structured, with funding allocated at the constituency level.

• The allocation formula for each constituency is based on a 2016 methodology that includes:
o historic allocations on a base amount; and the use of labour market data on in-year funding enhancements (e.g., Canada’s Labour Force Survey provides provincial level data of unemployed youth aged 15 to 29 years during the summer months (May to August); and
o 2021 Census data provides constituency level data on unemployed youth.

• In early Spring 2025, funding was allocated across 338 constituencies.

• For CSJ 2026, allocations will reflect the new electoral map, adjusting for the increase to 343 constituencies. As boundaries shift, many constituencies will see a change to their allocations.

Investment History
• Since 2019, YESS, along with CSJ, have benefitted from temporary funding short-term enhancements, including historic investments during the pandemic. At its peak in 2021-2022, CSJ provided 120,000 job opportunities for youth.

• Most recently, Budget 2024 allocated an additional $200.5 million for CSJ to create 70,000 job opportunities in summer 2025, with a targeted focus on sectors facing critical labour shortages, such as housing construction.

2025 Platform Commitment
• Provide funding and expand the mandates, where appropriate, for the Student Work Placement Program, the YESS, CSJ, and the Canadian Service Corps. We will work to better align the mandates with critical and emerging sectors such as green technology, artificial intelligence, and advanced manufacturing. This will increase opportunities within the not-for-profit organizations, the public sector, and private sector organizations.

If pressed on organizations that did not receive CSJ 2025 funding or received less than expected:

• CSJ is one of the most popular contribution programs at the federal level and remains significantly oversubscribed. The 2025 Call for Applications elicited over $1.51 billion in applications, representing 541% of the available budget of $279.2 million.
• The government continues to support 70,000 job opportunities per year, where funding is allocated to constituencies that have the highest need (e.g. constituencies that experience higher youth unemployment). This means that yar over year, the allocations may change in a constituency, requests may increase, and/or priority sectors may take precedence.

• As such, organizations that receive funding may not receive the level of funding requested or the amount of funding received in previous years. The objective of the program is to provide youth, especially those facing barriers to employment, with opportunities to develop and improve their skills.
• The Government is increasing the number of CSJ opportunities available for youth this summer by reinvesting funding after jobs have started. By funding additional jobs, particularly in underserved areas, including rural and remote communities, CSJ is expanding the number of opportunities available above the initial job target of 70,000 jobs.

None