Question Period Note: Employment and Skills Support for Canada’s Youth

Comment le gouvernement du Canada aide-t-il les jeunes et les étudiants à obtenir les compétences et l’expérience nécessaires pour intégrer avec succès le marché du travail? Le taux de chômage chez les jeunes s’élevait à 13,8% en mars 2026, soit un taux similaire à mars 2025 et légèrement plus faible que le taux de 14,1% de février 2026.

Le gouvernement du Canada s'engage à aider les jeunes à acquérir des compétences, à obtenir un emploi dans une carrière intéressante et à donner aux jeunes Canadiens les moyens de développer des compétences professionnelles grâce à une expérience pratique et à de la formation.

Le budget 2025 a investi dans une main-d’œuvre solide et flexible en soutenant environ 175 000 jeunes et étudiants cette année, grâce à un financement additionnel de 1,5 milliard de dollars à compter de 2026-2027, comme suit :

594,7 millions de dollars sur deux ans pour Emplois d’été Canada afin de soutenir environ 100 000 emplois à l’été 2026 ;

307,9 millions de dollars sur deux ans pour soutenir 20 000 jeunes par année dans le cadre des programmes de la Stratégie emploi et compétences jeunesse, en fournissant des services d’emploi, de la formation et des mesures de soutien globales, en particulier aux personnes qui font face à des obstacles à l’emploi ;

635,2 millions de dollars sur trois ans pour le Programme de stages pratiques pour étudiants afin de soutenir environ 55 000 possibilités d’apprentissage intégré au travail en 2026-2027.

Le budget 2025 a également investi dans la formation en compétences vertes afin de former la main-d’œuvre nécessaire pour bâtir une économie compétitive sur le plan climatique. 40 millions de dollars sur deux ans sont destinés à créer un nouveau service jeunesse pour le climat afin de former les jeunes en vue de répondre rapidement aux urgences climatiques, d’appuyer les mesures de rétablissement et d’accroître la résilience des communautés partout au Canada.

La mise à jour économique du printemps de 2026 propose d’investir 2,0 milliards de dollars sur cinq ans, à compter de 2026-2027, et 262 millions de dollars par année par la suite, afin d’augmenter le nombre de jeunes prêts à poursuivre une carrière dans les métiers spécialisés.

Dans le cadre de cet investissement, le programme Une Équipe Canada forte offrira aux jeunes de 15 à 30 ans des stages rémunérés, de niveau débutant, dans les métiers spécialisés et dans la construction, qui les mèneront à se diriger vers la formation en apprentissage.

Les stages dureront jusqu’à quatre mois et permettront aux jeunes de gagner un revenu, d’acquérir de l’expérience pratique et de contribuer immédiatement à de grands projets nationaux prioritaires en matière de logement, d’infrastructures et de défense.

Grâce aux investissements du budget 2025, nous aiderons environ 175 000 jeunes et étudiants en 2026-2027 à acquérir des compétences grâce à une expérience pratique et à de la formation. Particulièrement, nous allons : 

créer 100 000 emplois dans le cadre d’Emplois d’été Canada;

aider 20 000 jeunes qui font face à des obstacles à l’emploi dans le cadre du Programme emploi et compétences jeunesse;

créer environ 55 000 possibilités d’apprentissage intégré au travail dans le cadre du Programme de stages pratiques pour étudiants.

Le budget 2025 a investi $40 millions dans la création d’un service jeunesse pour le climat qui offrira une formation professionnelle rémunérée afin de bâtir une économie compétitive sur le plan climatique.

En 2026-2027, le Programme de soutien à l'apprentissage des étudiants aidera près de 19 000 jeunes, contribuant ainsi à prévenir le décrochage scolaire grâce à un soutien parascolaire ciblé destiné aux élèves confrontés aux plus grands obstacles, comme le tutorat, le mentorat et les bourses d'études.

En 2026-2027, le Service jeunesse Canada continuera de financer plus de 100 projets à travers le pays afin de créer des milliers d'occasions de bénévolat enrichissantes pour les jeunes âgés de 12 à 30 ans.

La mise à jour économique du printemps de 2026 propose d’investir 2,0 milliards de dollars sur cinq ans, à compter de 2026-2027, et 262 millions de dollars par année par la suite, afin d’augmenter le nombre de jeunes prêts à poursuivre une carrière dans les métiers spécialisés.

Dans le cadre de cet investissement, le programme Une Équipe Canada forte offrira aux jeunes de 15 à 30 ans des stages rémunérés, de niveau débutant, dans les métiers spécialisés et dans la construction, qui les mèneront à se diriger vers la formation en apprentissage.

SI ON INSISTE

Si on insiste sur la mise à jour économique du printemps de 2026 :

Nous agissons rapidement et de manière responsable pour garantir que l’investissement donne des résultats concrets pour les apprentis, les employeurs et les grands projets.

Plus d’informations seront communiquées à mesure que l’élaboration et la mise en œuvre du programme Une équipe Canada forte seront finalisées.

IF PRESSED

Through Budget 2025 investments, around 175,000 youth and students in 2026-2027 will develop work-ready skills through hands-on experience and training. Specifically, we will:

create 100,000 jobs under Canada Summer Jobs;

help 20,000 youth facing employment barriers under the Youth Employment and Skills Program; and

create around 55,000 work-integrated learning opportunities through the Student Work Placement Program.

The Budget 2025 has also invested $40 million in the creation of a Youth Climate Corps which will provide paid skills training to build a climate competitive economy.

In 2026-2027, the Supports for Student Learning Program will reach almost 19,000 youth, helping to prevent school dropouts through targeted after-school supports to students facing the greatest barriers – such as tutoring, mentoring, and scholarships.

In 2026-2027, Canada Service Corps will continue to fund over 100 projects across the country to create thousands of meaningful volunteer opportunities for youth aged 12-30.

The 2026 Spring Economic Update proposes to provide $2 billion over five years, starting in 2026-2027, and $262 million ongoing, to increase the number of young people who are ready to pursue a career in the skilled trades.  

As part of this investment, the Team Canada Strong Program will provide youth aged 15-30 with paid, entry-level, trades and construction-related job placements designed to lead into apprenticeship pathways. If pressed on the 2026 Spring Economic Update:

We are moving quickly, but responsibly, to ensure the investment delivers real results for apprentices, employers, and major projects.

More information will be shared as the Team Canada Strong Program design and implementation details are completed.

Current Labour Market Outlook for Youth and Students

Youth unemployment was 13.8% in March 2026. This is similar to March 2025, and a slight improvement from the February 2026 rate of 14.1%.

For the summer of 2025, the average unemployment rate for returning students aged 15 to 24 was 17.9%, the highest rate since the summer of 2009 (apart from the pandemic).  

New graduates are also having difficulty securing employment - in the first quarter of 2025, the unemployment rate was 11.2% for recent graduates under 25 years old.   

YOUTH EMPLOYMENT AND SKILLS STRATEGY  

The Youth Employment and Skills Strategy is a Government of Canada initiative delivered by various federal departments, agencies, and Crown corporations.  

Employment and Social Development Canada is responsible for two programs: 

The Youth Employment and Skills Strategy Program - provides funding to organizations to deliver individually tailored supports and services to equip youth facing barriers, to succeed on their employment journeys.  

Canada Summer Jobs - provides wage subsidy supports to employers from not-for-profit organizations, the public sector, and private sector organizations with 50 or fewer full-time employees, to hire youth for quality summer employment opportunities.

Youth Employment and Skills Strategy Program Results and Impacts

In 2024-2025, the Youth Employment and Skills Strategy programs served 24,735 youth, including 9,686 supported by Employment and Social Development Canada.

The 2024 Youth Employment and Skills Strategy evaluation found that the Youth Employment and Skills Strategy Program had positive employment outcomes for youth post-participation, compared to non-participants - including better wages, lower reliance on income support and higher incidence of employment.  

Youth Employment and Skills Strategy Program Investment History and Current Status

Budget 2025 proposed an additional $307.9 million over two years, starting in 2026-2027, to maintain supports to around 20,000 youth annually.   

Through Budget 2024, an additional $150.7 million was allocated to Youth Employment and Skills Strategy, to support over 20,000 opportunities in 2025-2026. 

Canada Summer Jobs Program Results and Outcomes

The program provided over 72,000 youth jobs in 2024, and more than 75,000 youth jobs in 2025.  

The 2024 horizontal evaluation of the Youth Employment and Skills Strategy found that the Canada Summer Jobs program had positive employment outcomes for youth post-participation, compared to non-participants - including better wages, lower reliance on income support and higher incidence to employment.  

Canada Summer Jobs Investment History and Current Status

Budget 2025 proposed an additional $594.7 million over two years, which will support an increase to 100,000 jobs in Summer 2026. 

Budget 2024 allocated $200.5 million for Canada Summer Jobs to support the creation of over 70,000 youth employment opportunities in 2025-2026.  

Given high unemployment rates, an additional 6,000 job opportunities were announced in June 2025, aiming to support up to 76,000 jobs.  

2) STUDENT WORK PLACEMENT PROGRAM

The Student Work Placement Program supports the creation of work-integrated learning opportunities for students of all ages enrolled at Canadian post-secondary education institutions. These opportunities help students gain the necessary skills, education, and real-life work experience to transition successfully into the workforce. 

There are two types of opportunities: work placements and innovative work-integrated learning experiences. Work placements are paid opportunities related to a student’s field of study, and typically last up to four months or a full school semester. Innovative work-integrated learning experiences are a flexible form of work-integrated learning, allowing students to participate in experiences that may not be offered through their school or program. These experiences are shorter (less than two months), often virtual, do not require the same level of skills or previous experience, and have flexible hours (compared to work placements).

Student Work Placement Program Results and Outcomes

Since 2017, the Program has supported over 300,000 work-integrated learning opportunities for post-secondary students across all provinces and territories in many sectors of the Canadian economy.  

The Program has connected post-secondary students with over 34,000 employers (92% micro, small and medium size enterprises) and over 420 Canadian post-secondary institutions have participated in the Program. 

Investment History and Current Status 

Budget 2025 proposed to provide $635.2 million over three years for the Student Work Placement Program. In 2026-2027, the Program will support around 55,000 work-integrated learning opportunities for post-secondary students, and in 2027-2028 and 2028-2029 it will support around 40,000 opportunities per year. 

Funding for 2026-2027 has been fully committed. The 26 agreements (24 funding recipients) have been extended to support the delivery of work-integrated learning opportunities, which will begin in the Summer 2026 academic semester.  

SUPPORTS FOR STUDENT LEARNING PROGRAM

The Support for Student Learning Program funds youth-serving organizations to help youth stay in school and access post-secondary education and lifelong learning, through tailored services such as tutoring, mentoring and financial support (i.e., bursaries and scholarships).

Services are provided outside of school by youth-serving organizations and targeted to youth populations facing the greatest barriers and most likely to drop-out of school or become NEET, offering the greatest return on investment.

Supports for Student Learning Program Results and Outcomes

The Support for Student Learning Program’s student supports reached over 147,000 students in 2024-2025, with proven results in better academic outcomes, improved skills, higher graduation and post-secondary enrolment, and reduced reliance on social services.

Investment History and Current Status

Through Budget 2024, the Government of Canada committed $67.5 million over three years (2024-2025 to 2026-2027) for the Program.

The Support for Student Learning Program launched a suite of new projects in 2025-2026, that will run for two years (until March 2027).

4) CANADA SERVICE CORPS

Canada Service Corps promotes civic engagement among young people aged 12-30 (particularly Indigenous and under-served youth) through access to meaningful volunteer service opportunities. Canada Service Corps-funded organizations offer service placement opportunities and also disburse micro-grants for youth-led service initiatives. These interventions allow youth to practice leadership, grow their personal and professional networks and gain important skills and experience.

Results and Outcomes

Since April 2018, Canada Service Corps has funded over 200 projects across the country creating over 52,000 service opportunities for youth. This represents over 41,000 service placements which have contributed about 5 million service hours to their communities as well as over 10,800 micro-grant projects that support the implementation of small-scale, innovative community service ideas across the country.

Investment History and Current Status

The current planned total contribution funding includes:

$82.9 million in 2025-2026; and,

$83.5 million in 2026-2027.

Canada Service Corps is funding over 100 projects across the country supporting young volunteers through service placements and micro-grants. These projects will remain in place until March 2027 and will create thousands of service opportunities.

SUPPORTS FOR STUDENT LEARNING PROGRAM &CANADA SERVICE CORPS CONSOLIDATION

Budget 2025 announced the consolidation of the Support for Student Learning Program and Canada Service Corps into one new program to streamline program delivery and bring down administration costs.

Combined, the Support for Student Learning Program and Canada Service Corps have over 100 projects in place (most until March 2027) that will continue supporting thousands of youth and students across Canada to stay engaged in their communities and education. A new consolidated program is expected to begin in early 2027-2028.

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