Vancouver, Canada — on October 30, The Certified General Accountants Association of Canada (CGA-Canada) released a report on youth unemployment in Canada arguing that the situation is not as dire as commonly perceived. Despite the challenges experienced by unemployed youth (15 to 24 years) in Canada, hardship caused by joblessness during the most recent recession and recovery was more moderate compared to that of the recessions in the early 80s and 90s.

“Conventional thinking seems to be that the jobless situation for youth has never been so bad. It’s challenging, that’s for sure. But it has been worse,” says Anthony Ariganello, president and CEO of CGA-Canada. “The situation today is not dire and so we need to reinforce the message to youth to not despair.”

The highest level of youth unemployment during the recent recession was 15.2 percent – evidently below that experienced in the previous recessions. Youth unemployment swelled to 19.2 percent in 1983 and 17.2 percent in 1992.

And youth are finding a job quicker than any other age group. In 2011, nearly half (46.8 percent) of unemployed youth were able to find a job within 1 to 4 weeks and the average duration of unemployment experienced by youth did not exceed 11 weeks. Long-term unemployment was not common among youth either: only a small proportion (5.4 percent) of youth remained without a job for more than one year. Instead, youth is most often unemployed while transitioning from school to the labour market and only a fraction of them are jobless due to layoffs.

Despite the positive trends, the big issue is underemployment.

“Underemployment is a big issue not only for youth, but for people of all ages,” says Rock Lefebvre, co-author of the report and vice-president of Research & Standards at CGA-Canada. “And while we know how harmful underemployment is for individuals as well as to the economy, we know far less about what causes it.”

To improve the understanding of the causes of youth underemployment, CGA-Canada recommends launching a research initiative focused on the issue. Advancing the Canadian economy towards a greater reliance on higher-skilled, higher-wage jobs is also crucial.

For that, CGA-Canada encourages businesses to improve competitiveness by investing in machinery and equipment and resource and development (R&D), innovation, and aggressively expanding in foreign markets. Greater use of school-employer partnerships may help to improve the match between employers’ needs and workers’ skills as well as help youth make informed decisions about their field of study.

For more information on youth unemployment and the report, visit: www.cga.org/canada/employment.

Image Courtesy of workingcapitalteam / Foter / CC BY-NC-ND

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Washington, U.S.A. — Generation Opportunity, one of the largest grassroots organizations connecting with young Americans through advanced social media outreach and traditional, boots-on-the-ground organizing, released the non-seasonally adjusted (NSA) 18-29 unemployment rate data for June:

The youth unemployment rate for 18-29 year olds specifically (NSA) for June 2012 is 12.8 percent.

The declining labor participation rate has created an additional 1.735 million young adults that are not counted as “unemployed” by BLS because they are not in the labor force, meaning that those young people have given up looking for work due to the lack of jobs.

If the labor force participation rate were factored into the overall 18-29 youth unemployment calculation, the actual 18-29-unemployment rate would rise to 16.8 percent (NSA).

Generation Opportunity President Paul T. Conway, former Chief of Staff for the United States Department of Labor and the United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM), responded to the June 2012 jobs numbers:

“For young Americans, through no fault of their own, their story is one of few opportunities, delayed dreams, and stalled careers. Today’s unemployment numbers tell the story of millions of young Americans who are paying the price for the failed policies coming out of Washington that have inhibited economic opportunity and job creation.”

“Despite the challenges they face, this generation is not asking what their country can do for them. Instead, they stand ready to do more for their country, to continue their service beyond the contributions they have already made as brave defenders of freedom across the globe, as selfless rebuilders of disaster-torn communities here at home, and as confident advocates for greater opportunity for all Americans.”

“While leaders in Washington travel to communities to make campaign promises and seek to place blame for the results of their failed policies, young Americans are looking for more than rhetoric.”

“In 2012, their message to candidates is clear – we want to build our careers, get on with our lives, and fulfill our dreams. If the only solutions you offer mean less jobs and more debt for the country, the stakes are too high to risk our vote on a bad bet.”

Generation Opportunity has been encouraging its Facebook fans, as well as its thousands of grassroots supporters across the nation, to call the White House and demand that the policies of the last three and a half years, which have stifled job creation, be reversed in favor of policies that free up Americans to create jobs, to hire, and to restore the American tradition of access to opportunity for all.

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