The job market in Canada has become a struggle that students are finding difficult to navigate.
Statistics Canada reports that Toronto has the highest unemployment rate in Ontario with 8.6 per cent of Torontonians being unemployed as of August.
Toronto has been seeing a steady increase in its unemployment rate from April to August.
Maria Victoria Mendoza, a fourth-year public relations student at Humber Polytechnic, says the current job market is not the easiest.
“I feel like they ask for a lot of experience, but how am I supposed to get that experience without being given the opportunity,” says Mendoza.
She says that although she is currently employed at a retail store, she worries about finding a job in her field after completing her studies.
“I feel like it’s very competitive,” she says.
Molly Syms-Wilson, also a fourth-year public relations student at Humber Polytechnic, says she struggled to find placement during the summer.
“The places that normally offer internship positions weren’t doing it as much this summer. A lot of companies weren’t able to offer that because of how our economy is,” says Syms-Wilson.
She says that if she were to apply for jobs, she would take the initiative in reaching out to companies.
Timothy Lang, President and Chief Executive Officer of Youth Employment Services (YES), says they see close to 20 thousand youths a year seeking employment.
“Recently, it has been one of the more difficult times to find employment for young people, in general, the youth unemployment rate is always about double the national average and right now the national average is around 6.1 per cent unemployment while the youth unemployment rate is more than double, close to almost 15 per cent,” says Lang.
Lang says this is the worst Canadians have seen in almost a decade.
He says that many factors contribute to the current state of the job market.
Lang says he has seen an increase in demand for job placement services like YES which is a not-for-profit service.