Question Period Note: Budget 2021: Opportunities for Canada’s Youth (Jobs)

Youth have been one of the demographic groups most impacted by the pandemic. What is the Government doing to help ensure young Canadians are better prepared to take advantage of job opportunities during Canada’s economic recovery and not left behind?

• Young Canadians have seen more job losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic than any other age demographic. This not only deprives them of income that could be used to pay for schooling, build their savings, or cover basic living expenses, but can also lead to long-term consequences from the start of their working lives.
• That is why our Recovery Plan for Jobs, Growth and Resilience outlines the actions we are taking to help ensure youth can gain access to the valuable job skills and experience.
• Budget 2021 will expand the Government’s ability to help gain more youth training opportunities and work experiences through the following programs delivered by Employment and Social Development Canada:
o Student Work Placement Program: $239.8 million will extend program flexibilities introduced last year to help post-secondary students access paid work-integrated learning opportunities. This will contribute to the creation of up to 50,000 experience-building opportunities in 2021-2022.
o Canada Summer Jobs: $371.8 million in new funding in 2022-2023 will create an additional 75,000 jobs for a total of 220,000 jobs over the next two years.
o Youth Employment and Skills Strategy: $109.3 million in 2022-2023 will help an additional 7,000 youth benefit from job placements and supports. This is in addition to $575.1 million announced in the 2020 Fall Economic Statement to create 45,300 job placements for youth over two years.
• Budget 2021 commitments to the following programs led by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada will offer young people a promising start as they launch their careers:
o Mitacs: $708 million over five years, starting in 2021-22, to create at least 85,000 work-integrated learning placements that provide on-the-job learning and offer businesses support to develop talent and grow.
o Canada Digital Adoption Program: With a commitment of $1.4 billion over four years, starting in 2021-22, it will create training and work opportunities for as many as 28,000 young people to help small and medium-sized businesses across Canada adopt new technology.
• Together, our actions today will help ensure young Canadians have access to the tools and opportunities they need to build successful careers while contributing to Canada’s economic recovery.

On April 19 2021, the Government of Canada tabled Budget 2021: A Recovery Plan for Jobs, Growth and Resilience, which included reference to additional support for ESDC’s youth employment programing.

Student Work Placement (SWP) Program

The Student Work Placement (SWP) Program supports partnerships between industry and post-secondary institutions to create quality work placements for students in all disciplines so they can develop the work-ready skills required to secure meaningful employment upon graduation. Placements are work-integrated learning (WIL) opportunities that help post-secondary students to bring together academic learning and applied work experience, and can include co-ops, internships, and mentorship programs.

In recognition of the significant uncertainty COVID-19 has created for students, Budget 2021 is committing $239.8 million to extend SWP program flexibilities introduced last year to help post-secondary students access paid work-integrated learning opportunities. This includes:
- $51.8 million to maintain increased temporary wage subsidies of 75% on all existing placements in 2021-2022.
- $187.5 million to create up to 20,000 additional work placements in 2021-2022.

Together, these investments will help support the creation of up to 50,000 experience-building opportunities in 2021-2022. These changes will enable students to continue to earn income and gain valuable work-related skills and experience while contributing to the economy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Youth Employment and Skills Strategy (YESS)

The Youth Employment and Skills Strategy (YESS) aims to ensure that young people (aged 15-30), particularly youth facing barriers, gain the skills, work experience and abilities they need to make a successful transition into the labour market. YESS is delivered by 11 federal government departments, agencies and Crown Corporations.

Through the Budget’s investment of $109.3 million in 2022-2023, an additional 7,000 youth will benefit from job placements and supports.
The measures outlined in the Budget are in addition to the $575.1 million to create 45,300 job placements for youth over two years that was announced in the Fall Economic Statement. As well as the creation of 9,500 additional work opportunities in 2020-2021 for young Canadians in critical and high-demand sectors ($187M for the YESS partners, including $40M for ESDC) that was announced in June 2020.

Canada Summer Jobs (CSJ)

The Canada Summer Jobs (CSJ) program is delivered by ESDC under YESS. The program 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 quality summer work experiences for young people aged 15 to 30 years.

In total, Budget 2021 commits $371.8 million in new funding for CSJ in 2022-2023 to create an additional 75,000 jobs for a total of 220,000 jobs over the next two years.

Budget 2021 builds on the previous investments outlined in FES to support up to 120,000 job placements through Canada Summer Jobs in 2021-2022, an increase of 40,000 new job placements (from 80,000 to 120,000 for 2021-2022), and extend program flexibilities introduced in 2020-2021 for one additional year. This also builds on the 10,000 additional job placements for youth added with an investment of $61.4M in 2020-2021.

Mitacs

Mitacs is a not-for-profit organization that connects young workers with innovative businesses for research and training opportunities. Mitacs focusses on supporting research-based innovation in industry and developing a talent stream of highly educated students and graduates through its internship programs.

These students bring cutting-edge scientific and technical knowledge from universities and colleges that will strengthen the innovation capabilities of industry. This combination of innovation and skill development for the next generation of leaders will help drive growth now and ensure long-term competitiveness and prosperity.

Budget 2021 proposes to provide $708 million over five years, starting in 2021-22, to Mitacs to create at least 85,000 work-integrated learning placements that provide on-the-job learning and provide businesses with support to develop talent and grow.

Canada Digital Adoption Program

To fuel the recovery, jobs, and growth, the government is launching the Canada Digital Adoption Program, which will create thousands of jobs for young Canadians and help as many as 160,000 small and medium-sized businesses adopt new digital technologies.

Budget 2021 proposes to provide $1.4 billion over four years, starting in
2021-22, to Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, to:
• Work with organizations across Canada to provide access to skills, training, and advisory services for all businesses accessing this program.
• Provide microgrants to smaller, main street businesses to support costs associated with technology adoption.
• Create training and work opportunities for as many as 28,000 young people to help small and medium-sized businesses across Canada adopt new technology.

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