By Leni Spooner, creator of Between the Lines.
Southwestern Ontario’s Vanishing Summer Jobs
Southwestern Ontario is one of the country’s most student-heavy regions. With multiple universities and colleges clustered from Waterloo to London, Kitchener to Windsor, tens of thousands of students rely on part-time and seasonal jobs to bridge their studies and living costs. But the opportunities that once sustained them are thinning out.
Restaurants are trimming back their hours—some only serving breakfast and lunch. Retailers that used to stay open late now lock their doors earlier. Light industrial shops hesitate to expand shifts in the face of tariff uncertainty. The result: fewer evening shifts, fewer seasonal placements, and fewer first-job experiences for students across the region.
And it’s not just a local issue. Across Canada, youth unemployment in 2025 has climbed to its highest level in 15 years outside of the pandemic. Once again, young people are “last in, first out” in a cooling economy.
Youth Unemployment in Canada 2025: The Numbers
The picture is stark. As of July 2025, Canada’s youth unemployment rate (ages 15–24) hit 14.6%, up 4.3 percentage points from July 2023. For returning students seeking summer jobs, the rate reached 17.5%, the worst since 2009. In some provinces, unemployment for teens aged 15–19 has spiked as high as 22%.
Racialized youth face even harsher realities. In July, unemployment stood at 26.4% for Arab, 23.4% for Black, 20.5% for Chinese, 19.4% for Filipino, and 17.1% for South Asian youth—compared to 12.0% for non-racialized youth.
The employment rate for youth has slipped to 53.6%, the lowest since 1998. That means fewer than six in ten young people are working—a sobering marker in a labour market where employers simultaneously warn of shortages.
What’s Driving Today’s Crisis?
Several forces are converging:
- Economic uncertainty. Businesses are wary amid trade disputes and recession fears, making them cautious about hiring inexperienced workers.
- Lag effects of interest rates. The Bank of Canada raised rates sharply between 2022–2024 to curb inflation. Those hikes slowed hiring, especially for entry-level jobs. Now that rates are being cut in 2025, the hoped-for boost in hiring has yet to materialize.
- Older workers competing. Many Canadians have taken on second jobs to cope with affordability pressures, crowding students out of entry-level shifts.
- Population shifts. International student enrolment surged in recent years, intensifying job competition. Ottawa’s recent cuts to student visas have eased that pressure somewhat—but at a cost. Colleges and universities are now struggling financially, raising tuition and cutting courses, adding new burdens for students who remain.
- Sectoral fragility. Retail, hospitality, and tourism—sectors that traditionally employ youth—are among the most sensitive to economic shocks.
- Structural shifts: wages, technology, and gig work. There’s a common narrative that rising minimum wages automatically push employers to cut back student jobs and invest in automation. The evidence is more nuanced. Some Canadian studies suggest a modest effect—youth employment falling by 3–5 percentage points in certain provinces during peak summer months—but others find little to no impact. Automation responses are also patchy: hours may be cut, but large-scale job loss isn’t evident. The more immediate challenge is the rise of gig work and AI-driven platforms that have soaked up many entry-level jobs. Food delivery, ride-sharing, and freelance digital gigs offer students income but little stability, weak wages, and no career ladder.
A Family Memory: The 1990s Echo
This moment reminds me of the 1990s, when my own kids were entering the workforce. It was a difficult time to find work—youth unemployment was high, and they had to settle for whatever came along. We were fortunate to be “nepotism-adjacent.” Family networks helped them secure introductions to companies willing to hire. Even so, they were nearly two years behind where most students would normally land in their first-job experience.
Most youth didn’t have that advantage. Many fell behind before they had even started. That generation learned the same lesson today’s students are learning: in downturns, youth are always the first to be pushed out of the labour market.
Pipelines of the Past
The story wasn’t always one of scarcity. In the postwar decades, Canada built something remarkable: broad, deliberate pipelines for student employment.
Railways and hotel chains recruited young people in bulk, offering free or subsidized transportation across the country. Seasonal industries like farming, tourism, and reforestation employed thousands every summer. Governments pitched in with national programs like Katimavik, which between 1977 and 1986 gave over 30,000 youth the chance to work on community and environmental projects.
These programs weren’t boutique. They were scaled, coordinated, and designed to pair jobs with housing, travel, and fair pay. When recessions hit in the early 1980s and 1990s, youth unemployment still climbed to 17–20%—nearly double adult rates—but the pipelines gave students real jobs to fall back on.
From the 2000s onward, those pipelines shrank. Katimavik disappeared. Canada Summer Jobs narrowed access. Federal programs splintered into smaller initiatives like the Youth Employment and Skills Strategy (YESS). Provinces and non-profits layered in training or mentorship programs. All valuable—but fragmented, underfunded, and too often invisible to students who simply need a summer job.
The Pattern That Repeats
Canada’s history shows a cycle:
- 1970s: Baby boomers flooded the market just as recessions struck.
- 1990s: Recession hit again, youth fell behind, and families leaned on connections to get kids started.
- 2008–09: The global financial crisis triggered another round of weak youth recovery.
- 2020s: Population surges (international students), structural shocks (automation, gig work), and economic headwinds.
The details change, but the pattern holds: youth are “last in, first out.”
How Canada Compares
Canada is not alone. Youth unemployment in 2025 looks similar across advanced economies:
| Country/Region | Youth Unemployment (%) | Historical Highs | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canada | 14.6 | >20 (1990s) | Worst since mid-90s/pandemic; racialized youth hit hardest |
| USA | 9.7–10.5 | 28.5 (2020) | Lower than peers; stronger recovery post-COVID |
| UK | 14.2–14.6 | 22.5 (2011) | High NEET rates; rising youth inactivity |
| EU | 14.4–14.7 | 24.4 (2013) | Regional disparities; youth still most vulnerable |
| NZ | 12.9 | 15.5 (2009) | More youth staying in education to delay entry |
| AUS | ~11–13 (est.) | 19 (1992) | Recent data sparse; historically similar to NZ/Canada |
The TFW Distraction
In Canada, Conservatives are leaning on the claim that the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) program is to blame for student joblessness. It’s an easy line for an election still years away. But it’s also misleading.
The danger lies in what it fosters: xenophobia, scapegoating, and “othering.” It distracts from the deeper economic drivers—trade shocks, weak pipelines, sectoral fragility—and replaces them with a false narrative that blames migrant workers.
The reality: Ottawa has already scaled the program back. Caps are in place, employer requirements are tighter, and audits more frequent. The program still needs reform, especially to protect workers from exploitation, but eliminating it won’t solve youth unemployment.
Students in Southwestern Ontario or Toronto won’t suddenly relocate to rural farms with poor housing for minimum wage. They need viable opportunities where they live, backed by housing supports, fair wages, and transit access.
Lessons From Past Interventions
Canada has had success before:
- Canada Summer Jobs and wage subsidies helped employers hire students during downturns.
- Youth Employment and Skills Strategy (YESS) targeted supports for at-risk groups.
- Ontario’s 2013 Youth Jobs Strategy created work placements and entrepreneurship support.
- International models—like Germany’s apprenticeship schemes or New Zealand’s school-to-work transitions—show how systemic, scaled approaches pay off.
The evidence is clear: scaled, coordinated programs work. Boutique pilot projects do not.
Recommendations for 2025
Drawing from history and global peers, here’s where Canada could act:
- Rebuild large-scale pipelines. National programs with guaranteed placements, housing, and fair pay.
- Target hiring incentives. Wage subsidies or tax rebates for employers hiring youth, with a focus on barriered populations.
- Integrate education and work. Expand co-ops, apprenticeships, and school-to-work transitions.
- Modernize for gig/AI disruption. Update employment policies to reflect platform work and automation risks.
- Municipal leadership. Invest in local farm-to-fork systems, co-ops, and missing-middle food processing as new hubs for student work.
- Youth lens in policy. Apply youth impact assessments to federal and provincial economic strategies.
Q&A: Breaking It Down
Q: Are TFWs really taking student jobs?
No. The TFW program fills roles students often won’t or can’t take under current conditions—especially in agriculture. Cutting the program wouldn’t put students into those jobs. Reforming it is necessary, but scapegoating workers only fuels xenophobia.
Q: Why do youth always get hit hardest in downturns?
Because they’re “last in, first out.” Youth dominate fragile sectors like retail, tourism, and food service. When the economy wobbles, these sectors are first to cut hours.
Q: Is this worse than the 1990s?
It’s comparable. Today’s youth unemployment (14.6%) mirrors the mid-90s. What’s different is the overlay of new pressures: AI disruption, gig economy growth, tuition hikes, and housing costs that far exceed what the 90s generation faced.
Q: What can governments actually do?
History shows the path: wage subsidies, national pipelines, and direct youth hiring incentives work. Piecemeal programs don’t. Coordinated, scaled action does.
Q: How does Canada compare to the U.S.?
Worse. U.S. youth unemployment is around 10%, while Canada, the UK, and EU hover near 15%. The difference lies in sectoral resilience and stronger school-to-work transition programs south of the border.
The Canary in the Coal Mine
Youth unemployment in Canada 2025 is more than a statistic. It’s a warning sign. High student joblessness has always preceded broader turbulence—from the recessions of the 1980s and 1990s to the 2008 crash.
The lesson is simple: student employment can’t be treated as an afterthought. It’s a national investment. Canada once built the pipelines to prove it. It can again.
Because when young Canadians are locked out of work, they don’t just lose wages. They lose time, skills, and momentum. And the whole country is poorer for it.
📖 Short Glossary of Terms
- Youth Unemployment Rate: The percentage of people aged 15–24 who are actively seeking work but cannot find it.
- NEET: Acronym for Not in Employment, Education, or Training. A key international measure of youth exclusion from the labour market and learning.
- TFW (Temporary Foreign Worker Program): A federal program allowing Canadian employers to hire foreign nationals when no Canadians are available. Often debated in connection with seasonal agricultural and service-sector work.
- Gig Economy: Short-term, freelance, or contract-based work (e.g., ride-sharing, food delivery, online freelancing). Offers flexibility but little stability or security.
- Labour Market Pipelines: Coordinated programs (historically run by governments, employers, or both) that created predictable seasonal or part-time job opportunities for students.
- Structural Unemployment: Joblessness caused not by economic cycles alone but by mismatches in skills, technology, geography, or demographics.
- Racialized Youth: Young Canadians who self-identify as members of visible minority groups; consistently report higher unemployment rates.
📚 Further Reading
- Statistics Canada – Labour Force Survey: July 2025 and August 2025 — the key data on youth employment trends.
- World Bank – Solutions to Youth Unemployment (Policy Note, eMBeD Unit) — Behavioral approaches and practical interventions for global youth unemployment pdf.
- The Borgen Project – Four Potential Solutions to the Youth Unemployment Crisis — Accessible overview of global causes and policy solutions.
- OECD – Investing in Youth series (various reports by country) — Comparative evidence on youth labour outcomes, NEET rates, and education-to-work transitions.
- Desjardins Report – Youth-cession: Why Youth Are Struggling in the Labour Market — Canadian policy and economic framing of the 2025 youth jobs crisis.
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About the Author
Leni Spooner is a Canadian writer, researcher, and civic storyteller. She is the founder of Between the Lines | Kitchen Table Politics, a longform publication exploring how policy, economics, food systems, and everyday life intersect. Her work blends historical context with present-day analysis, helping readers see the deeper patterns that shape Canada’s choices — and the lives built around them.
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