Question Period Note: Canada Summer Jobs – Program Budget

Why is the CSJ 2023 and 2024 budget lower?

•Youth were hardest hit during the pandemic with the highest rate of unemployment.
•The Government responded with historic investments to alleviate the impact.
•While youth unemployment rates have improved, they are still almost twice as likely to be unemployed than the general population.
•Good jobs open a world of possibilities for a better future – to help youth save to pay for school, to afford rent and housing.
•In summer 2023 and 2024, the Government will help create 70,000 jobs for youth each year. This is the same as pre-pandemic levels in which the Government supported approximately 70,000 opportunities for youth each year.

•Youth faced the greatest job loss during the pandemic. The overall unemployment rate for youth aged 15-24 peaked at 30% in May 2020. In response, the Government made historic investments to Canada’s Youth Employment and Skills Strategy to help youth, especially those facing barriers, to find and maintain good jobs.
•The Canadian economy is doing well in many ways post pandemic. While the unemployment rate reached a new historical low of 5.0% in 2023 Q1 (rising to 5.2% in 2023 Q2 as labour market tightness eased), and youth unemployment rate is closer to the pre-pandemic average at 10.9% (August 2022 to July 2023), they still experience a doubling of the unemployment rate compared to the general population. A trend which has persisted for the past year.

Investment
•The 2022 Fall Economic Statement announced $400.5 million over two years, starting in 2023-24, for Canada Summer Jobs to support a total of approximately 70,000 annual summer job placements. This aligns with the Government’s announcement, in 2016, to double the number of summer jobs from over 34,000 in 2015 to nearly 70,000 in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
•For CSJ 2023, the program budget was $278.7M compared to $454.3M for CSJ 2022. While program funding has now re-aligned closer to pre-pandemic levels, it is still higher than the 2019 budget of $263M. For CSJ 2024, the budget is set to support another 70,000 job opportunities.

Funding Allocation
•The formula to allocate CSJ 2023 funding to Federal Electoral District (constituency) has remained the same since 2016. Funding is allocated to Canada’s 338 constituencies on the basis of the Labour Force Survey and the most recent census. As a result, constituencies with higher levels of unemployed youth will receive a greater allocation than constituencies with lower levels of unemployment.
•The formula is composed of historical spending as well as labour market realities, based on unemployment data from both the local and provincial levels. This includes using Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey data on the number of unemployed youth aged 15 to 29 years during the summer months (May to August), and most recent Census data on the number of unemployed youth aged 15 to 30).
•The program budget with an Authorized Commitment Level (ACL) for CSJ 2023 was about $334.5M compared to $545.1M for CSJ 2022. There may have been a perceived decrease for some constituencies due to the 2021 change towards a fixed 20% ACL. However, the base program budget (without an ACL) has increased when comparing the 2019 and 2023.

BACKGROUND

•CSJ is part of the Government of Canada’s Youth Employment and Skills Strategy (YESS). The YESS helps young people, particularly those facing barriers to employment, gain work experience and develop the skills they need to transition successfully into the labour market.
•CSJ is delivered by Employment and Social Development Canada. It 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 job opportunities for young people between the ages of 15 and 30..
•The CSJ program provides youth with opportunities to develop and improve their skills, and for some, it is their first job experience. The program is also responsive to national and local labour market priorities.
•Many youth continue to need support, including those from under-represented groups (e.g. youth with disabilities, Indigenous youth, Black and other racialized youth groups, etc.). For example:
o In July 2023, the unemployment rate for Black youth aged 15-24 was 15.9% .
o In July 2023, the unemployment rate for visible minority youth aged 15-24 was 14.7%.
o In December 2022, the unemployment rate for Indigenous youth aged 15-24 was 12.2% compared to 10% for non-Indigenous youth.
•Each year, employers withdraw and/or are unable to find youth to fill the number of CSJ positions they were approved for as the projects take place during the summer months. The Authorized Commitment Level(ACL) allows a specified over-commitment of funds, above the initial program budget, that is allocated to eligible projects at the beginning of the program cycle in order to meet the job creation targets.

Province/Territory-2019 Provincial/Territorial Budget-2023 Provincial/Territorial Budget
Newfoundland and Labrador - $8,161,374 - $8,372,051
Prince Edward Island - $1,461,632 - $1,52,711
Nova Scotia - $8,746,433 - $9,224,441
New Brunswick - $7,919,995 - $8,230,699
Quebec - $53,813,925 - $56,327,889
Ontario - $104,191,256 - $111,451,654
Manitoba - $8,169,985 - $8,676,318
Saskatchewan - $7,172,853 - $7,560,570
Alberta - $27,931,439 - $29,851,435
British Columbia - $26,382,679 - $28,321,263
Yukon - $398,730 - $427,765
Northwest Territories - $410,009 - $450,197
Nunavut - $269,181 - $331,499
Canada Total Constituency Allocations - $255,029,490 - $270,748,490
*Note that the totals are different from the Investment section as they do not include the National Reserve.

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