Question Period Note: The Student Work Placement Program

How is the government supporting work placements for post-secondary students?

• Canada’s future prosperity lies in ensuring that young Canadians graduate with the work-ready skills necessary to succeed in a constantly evolving labour market.

• Additional investments in 2020 and 2021 have contributed to increasing the total number of placements supported to over 100,000 since the creation of the Program in 2017.

• While employment has recovered to pre-pandemic levels, there are many students in need of continued support. Particularly those from under-represented groups such as youth with disabilities, Indigenous youth, and Black and other racialized groups.

• The Government remains committed to supporting post-secondary students. In 2022-2023, the Program will support the creation of up to 40,000 work placements across various sectors, contributing to a growing and resilient economy.

Investment

• Budget 2021 provided $239.8 million to the Student Work Placement (SWP) Program to support work-integrated learning opportunities (WIL) for 50,000 post-secondary students in 2021-2022 (an increase of 20,000).

• In 2022-2023 and 2023-2024, the Program will support the creation of 40,000 WIL opportunities per year across various sectors nationwide.

Results

• Launched in 2017-2018 as a small-scale pilot to better prepare post-secondary students for the world of work, the SWP Program has grown from offering 10,000 WIL opportunities over four years, to its recent high of 50,000, in 2021-2022.

Background

• The SWP Program supports partnerships between industry and post-secondary institutions to create quality work placements for students in all disciplines.

• The SWP Program helps post-secondary students to develop work-ready skills, employers to recruit and develop talent, and post-secondary institutions to adapt to changing labour market needs.

• For thousands of Canadian college, university, polytechnic, and CEGEP students, formal co-op programs help to bring together academic learning and applied work experience. These work placements can also include internships or mentorship programs as well as other non-traditional experiences like hackathons, boot camps, and micro-internships.

• The Program connects students who need relevant work experience to employers in the Canadian economy looking to benefit from the talent, new ideas and hard work that young people can bring to the workplace.

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