Practically a yr after graduating from Carleton College with a level in engineering physics, Surya Nareshan continues to be struggling to search out employment.
Nareshan, who lives in Ottawa, has utilized for dozens of positions since Might — principally in software program engineering and optics. Whereas he is made it by way of a number of rounds of interviews, together with elaborate proficiency testing, he hasn’t but discovered a everlasting job.
“I’ve utilized to 80-plus jobs at this level, and sometimes you do not even hear again,” the 24-year-old informed CBC Information.
With the newest numbers exhibiting that unemployment is up amongst youth, a sizeable share of the rise in Canada’s general unemployment price since April final yr is because of new job seekers — younger folks and up to date graduates like Nareshan — who’re spending extra time searching for work, in keeping with an evaluation by RBC Economics.
Nareshan stated he anticipated that paying greater tuition for a technical diploma would give him a leg up within the job market.
Now, even simply saying that he is unemployed makes him really feel down.
“I suppose there’s similar to a sunk-cost fallacy at this level for me,” he stated. “Finally I am going to simply transition to a different course if nothing works out. However hopefully that will not be the case.”
New job seekers behind unemployment: economist
StatsCan information launched Friday confirmed that youth had been employed on the lowest stage since February 2012, barring the primary two years of the COVID-19 pandemic.
There has been nearly no employment development amongst youth between the ages of 15 and 24 since December 2022.
An RBC report printed in January said that whereas Canada’s inhabitants has been rising shortly, it is college students and new graduates driving the rise within the unemployment price, not newcomers.
Friday’s contemporary information highlighted that youth are “bearing the brunt” of the labour market downturn, RBC economist Carrie Freestone, who co-authored the report, informed CBC Information.
Since April 2023, “half of the rise within the unemployment price got here from job seekers who had been beforehand not within the labour pressure as a result of they had been at school,” Freestone stated.
The English for Employment program run by Edmonton’s Multicultural Well being Brokers Co-operative pairs newcomers to Canada with employers within the hospitality trade. The purpose: to empower members with language {and professional} abilities that may assist them make Canada their dwelling.
Some are latest college graduates, whereas the others are college students or latest highschool graduates, she added.
Freestone famous that since mid-2023, “we have gotten numerous information factors that had been nearly at odds with one another.”
The unemployment price has been rising general, however with Canada’s inhabitants rising at its quickest price since 1957, the information nonetheless exhibits job positive factors kind of month to month, she stated.
“What which means proper now’s [that], relative to the scale of the labour pressure, the portion of members in Canada who’re unemployed is rising,” she stated.
Whereas solely a part of the rising unemployment price will be defined by layoffs, there’s been a big uptick in job cuts, an acceleration that began in March, Freestone stated.
“So the labour market is unquestionably softening … and college students are positively nonetheless ready the place they’re looking for jobs for longer,” she added.
Nareshan, the Carleton graduate, stated he may pursue a grasp’s diploma to spice up his resume — he suspects that, with so many layoffs throughout the tech sector, he might be competing with extra skilled candidates who’ve just lately misplaced their jobs.
“After conducting interviews, I am going to attain out for suggestions. And there is been quite a few occasions the place I’ve misplaced out to any person who’s had actually 5 years of expertise or has a grasp’s diploma and all these different issues,” Nareshan stated.
Within the meantime, he stated he is being profitable by way of freelance work and tutoring gigs. He might need to maneuver again in with mother and father, and whereas desires to proceed residing in Canada, he may look to the U.S. or elsewhere if he cannot discover a job right here.
“Quite a lot of us new grads are anticipated to have extra expertise that we do not have,” he stated.
Prepping younger folks for prolonged job search
Over at Toronto Metropolitan College, 21-year-old Claire Fitzpatrick is in her closing yr of a social work diploma. With commencement on the horizon, she’s utilized for greater than 50 entry-level jobs since final month, however has but to land a full-time everlasting job.
“I believed a level in social work was sensible. It’s a job sort of diploma,” Fitzpatrick informed CBC Information. “So I believed getting a level in social work versus one thing related like psychology or sociology, it might be a bit simpler for me to discover a job after graduating.”
Proper now, Fitzpatrick works on the College’s Profession Co-op and Scholar Success Centre, which helps college students who’re searching for jobs and planning their profession. In line with its affiliate director Windy Li, the workplace continues to satisfy with college students lengthy after they’ve acquired a diploma.
“The rationale why we’ve a five-year alumni coverage is as a result of we perceive that typically it takes some time for college students to get a job after they graduate,” although that typically relies on which trade they’re making use of into, Li informed CBC Information.
“I feel during the last couple of years, what we have seen is numerous college students expressing extra anxiousness, [a] heightened sense of hysteria on account of the pandemic, but additionally [due to] numerous the financial situations which can be continuously evolving.”
For her half, Fitzpatrick desires to work with adults who’ve disabilities. She says she’s broadened her job search far past that — making use of on job boards on LinkedIn and Certainly, and by reaching out on to particular organizations.
“It is particularly essential as a result of I’ve Sort 1 diabetes, and as soon as I graduate, I am off my mother and father medical health insurance. So having medical health insurance, even in comparison with a wage, is essential for me simply due to the price of my medical provides.”
She expects that candidates with extra expertise, or those that have a graduate diploma, are getting the roles for which she’s utilized. Fitzpatrick hopes to go to graduate college finally, however she says its aggressive nature means “it’s essential be on the prime of your class to make it into most packages.”
“I didn’t predict it might be this difficult for me to search out an entry stage function in any respect,” she stated.
“There’s gotta be extra that may be finished as a result of there are all these very certified younger graduates who cannot get a job.”
