FIRST READING: Canadian youth hammered by vanishing summer job market
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TOP STORY
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Canada's youth are staring down the worst summer jobs market in two decades; the latest sign of a Canadian economy whose shortcomings are disproportionately hammering the young.
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According to new data published by the job site Indeed, summer job listings are down 22 per cent as compared to this time last year.
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'Postings were down 32 per cent for summer camp roles, while other jobs like painters, lifeguards, and customer service representatives also fell from the same point in 2024,' says an analysis by Indeed economist Brendan Bernard.
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Canadian jobs numbers have been lacklustre for several years at this point, with the true extent of the decline often patched up by a record expansion of the civil service
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In February, for example, Canada technically experienced a net gain in jobs, but it was due entirely to government hires. That month, the private sector lost 16,400 jobs, while the public sector added 18,800.
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And that's all set to get worse, driven in part by ongoing trade uncertainties between the United States and Canada. This week, TD Bank's chief economist Beata Caranci forecast that Canada would head into recession in 2025, with the likely loss of another 100,000 private sector jobs.
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Since at least the COVID pandemic, the Canadian economy has been an inordinately hard row for anyone under 30.
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In a November report, the non-profit King's Trust Canada outlined what it called a 'crisis' of youth unemployment. 'One in every four unemployed persons in Canada is under the age of 25,' it wrote, noting that the gap between adult and youth unemployment was hitting all-time highs.
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Last summer, of the 4.6 million Canadians aged between 15 and 24, 14.2 per cent were unemployed, meaning they had tried and failed to find work. This was more than double the national unemployment rate of 6.4 per cent.
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Added to this is that young Canadians are also at the sharp end of the housing unaffordability crisis.
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As far back as 2021, more than 80 per cent of Canadians aged 25 to 29 were renters, with the cohort increasingly unable to afford any kind of home ownership. In one particularly illuminating Ipsos poll from August, 89 per cent of respondents under the age of 34 reported agreeing with the sentiment that 'owning a home in Canada is now only for the rich.'
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Winnipeg Free Press
an hour ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
TACO time
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These companies, however, are only purchased when their share price reflects fair value relative to those qualities. What's more, even holding great companies can be risky when they become steeply overvalued. At that point, it's worthwhile selling those holdings or at least reducing their portion in the portfolio. 'Part of our discipline is if we sell companies and can't find anything to buy — which happens in periods of expensive markets — we go to cash, as we're doing right now,' Bains says Companies may have great business models, but their share price today is generally too high to purchase with a margin of safety. Still, Lionridge's equity portfolio obviously must hold stocks — currently about 20 companies that are likely to weather stagflation and even a recession better than other stocks. A recession is likely already underway, De Goey notes, pointing to gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter contracting in the U.S. 'No reasonable person expects the economy to grow in Q2 given tariffs are now having more of an impact.' Monday Mornings The latest local business news and a lookahead to the coming week. The best companies should remain profitable, and market drops will put their shares on sale from time to time, Baird says. In the meantime, beware of FOMO — fear of missing out — when markets surge higher, he adds. That often leads to buying high and, worse, selling low in a knee-jerk reaction to markets plunging in fear. 'We're all fallible and prone to psychological traps,' Baird adds. 'So the biggest thing for any investor is managing our emotions.' Joel Schlesinger is a Winnipeg-based freelance journalist joelschles@
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