Alberta's economy is expected to outperform this year, but young people are still struggling to find work
Taryn Leahy has been trying to find a job in Calgary for months and figures she has sent out 160 resumés since she started looking in January. It's been exhausting, she says, and demoralizing.
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She said her dream job would be working in a biology lab as a research assistant, putting the degree she earned at the University of Calgary last winter to good use. At this point, she'd settle for a part-time role as a receptionist, but even finding something like that is proving to be an overwhelming challenge.
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The jobless rate for this group was the highest in the country for much of the spring, hitting 17.2 per cent in both April and May. Things improved in June, with the rate falling to 16.4 per cent, still the second-highest in Canada, next to Newfoundland and Labrador, Statistics Canada said Friday.
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It might be comforting to know other Canadians are also feeling cheated out of a first crack at the workforce. But it doesn't put cash in Leahy's pocket, nor does it add crucial lines to her resumé.
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Her generation is caught up in a world of paradoxes. Alberta's economy is expected to be the country's top performer this year, according to some forecasts, and yet its younger workers are dealing with levels of unemployment they would typically see in a recession.
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Outside the pandemic, Alberta's job market hasn't been this bad for both men and women under 25 since the downturn of the early 1990s, according to Statistics Canada data.
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A mix of political and economic forces are working against them. Gen-Zers across Canada are feeling the effects of United States President Donald Trump's unpredictable trade policies, Mark Parsons, chief economist at ATB Financial, said.
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Employers are not hiring as much, worried the Trump administration could unleash a new round of tariffs at any moment, potentially derailing entire industries or perhaps slowing the global economy and the appetite for Canadian exports, he said.
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