The Recession Hits Students Hard

Posted August 14th, 2009

Statistics Canada recently reported that the national unemployment rate for students rose to 21% in July, the highest rate since these statistics started to be recorded in 1977. Also, nearly half of the country’s 414 000 people thrown out of work since the recession began last fall were young people, between the ages of 15 and 24.

“In many ways, I can’t imagine a worse environment for student employment than we saw this year,” said Douglas Porter, deputy chief economist for BMO Capital Markets

Students relied on millions of dollars of government funding to help find work, but with ballooning budgets and deficits, most of these programs have been cut back. This is forcing many students who are already holding as much as $50 000 in debt, to go deeper and deeper. And if interest rates start to increase, this will put an even greater pinch on students and their parents.

With unemployment suffering, and job prospects disappearing, students enrolment in college programs in trades, human resource management, medical laboratory technology, pharmacy technology, and human services has significantly increased. James Knight, president of the Associations of Canadian Community Colleges, said, “In virtually every jurisdiction, it is (up) more than 10 per cent. That’s a huge year-over-year increase.

Unfortunately this means many of these programs have filled up, and many are finding themselves on long waiting lists. Algonquin College in Ottawa even had to turn away 7 000 qualified students last year.

But at least, according to Knight, employment prospects for the graduates who do get accepted are still very high.

Be patient with your son or daughter’s employment prospects, they may have to accept a less than ideal position. For a student who wasn’t fully prepared to tackle such tough times, there is a chance they are already under quite a bit of stress. Be there to support their search by understanding the challenges, and be there to help them by offering to look over their application forms and to give them suggestions from your experience.

Also, keep in mind, even with a less than ideal job, there is still plenty of opportunity to develop transferable skills, such as interpersonal skills, management skills, leadership skills, organization skills, basic budgeting, and sense of drive. And of course, building savings is always better than going deeper into debt.

From my own personal experience, I took a job in a retail position between my first and second year. Even though it is not directly connected to my field of study, I was able to gain valuable experience from it. I was eventually made a manager, and was able to carry that experience forward into future jobs.
Patience, resilience and diligence are required. Even if jobs are hard to find, they are still available.

For more information, see http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/1136388.html and http://www.canada.com/Student+jobless+rate+time+high/1873105/story.html.