Prime Minister announces renewal of Canada's Youth Employment Strategy


December 7, 1998
Ottawa, Ontario

Prime Minister Jean Chrétien today announced the renewal of Canada's Youth Employment Strategy during a visit to the YMCA in Edmonton. The strategy was set to end on March 31, 1999. It will now be made permanent at $155 million a year, which means that funding of $465 million will be provided over the next three years. This a 50% increase over the $315 million provided over the first three years.

"Canada's Youth Employment Strategy has helped 300,000 young Canadians and an additional 5,000 youth at risk," said the Prime Minister. The increase in our funding reflects this success and our commitment to the new partnerships that have been established with governments, communities and NGOs. This is an example of what Canada can achieve when we roll up our sleeves and work together on something that matters."

The objectives of Canada's Youth Employment Strategy are to provide young Canadians with:

  • work experience;
  • access to learning opportunities; and
  • career information.

    • These special employment programs include student summer employment (over 70,000 a year), internships (over 40,000 a year), and career and labour market information services.

    The $465 million in special employment measures over the next three years builds on approximately $3 billion in annual Government of Canada programs and services for youth. These include:

  • the Canada Student Loans Program;
  • aboriginal education;
  • youth entrepreneurship programs;
  • research grants and scholarships;
  • tax deductions to make post-secondary education affordable; and
  • transfers to the provinces for post-secondary education.

    • Also included are new measures announced in the 1998 Budget such as:

  • Canada Education Savings Grants;
  • an EI premium holiday for employers hiring young Canadians;
  • youth at risk funding;
  • the Millennium Scholarship Program;
  • Canada Study Grants for Students with Dependents; and
  • changes to help students in repaying their Canada Student Loans.

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    PMO Press Office: (613) 957-5555

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    BACKGROUNDER

    YOUTH EMPLOYMENT STRATEGY

    The funding extension announced for the Youth Employment Strategy underscores the Government of Canada's sustained commitment to youth. The Strategy is the Government of Canada's action plan to boost the employability of young Canadians. Its main aim is to ensure young people get the skills, knowledge and experience they need to prepare for and participate in the world of work. It does this by helping young Canadians access:

  • work experience;
  • career planning information;
  • learning opportunities.

    • The $465 million funding renewal will provide:

  • work experience for over 40,000 young Canadians per year;
  • better access to career and labour market information;
  • study and work experience abroad.

    • Delivered in co-operation with 12 Government of Canada departments, and building on the success of programs and services already in place, the Youth Employment Strategy relies on active partnerships with other levels of government, private non-governmental organizations, the voluntary sector and with young Canadians and their families. The Strategy also enables employers to hire young people through wage subsidies and EI premium relief.

    ACCESSING WORK EXPERIENCE

    This part of the Strategy is designed to help break the "no experience, no job - no job, no experience" cycle faced by many young people. It is also intended to provide career-related experience to unemployed or underemployed youth and students. The Strategy's work experience component offers the following programs:

    Youth Service Canada projects provide job skills, life skills and relevant work experience in teams of 10 to 20 young people with the focus on building better and stronger communities by addressing local needs and issues.

    Youth Internship Canada projects enable young people to enhance their employability and entrepreneurial skills in entry-level opportunities with an employer who will help them secure full-time employment.

    Student Summer Job Action offers a range of summer employment opportunities and programs delivered by several Government of Canada departments and includes wage-subsidy components to enable employers to hire students for career-related summer jobs.

    Internships in Science and Technology, International Trade and Development and for First Nations and Inuit Youth provide work experience for young people and help growing sectors find talented young workers.

    Through increased funding, the Canadian Opportunities Strategy, announced in the last budget, supports activities designed specifically to address the needs of youth-at-risk.

    ACCESSING CAREER AND JOB-RELATED INFORMATION

    This part of the Strategy is designed to provide young people with "one-stop shopping" for information they need to make informed career choices and to know first hand about the programs, services and resources available to them. The following are among the vehicles used to provide this information:

    Youth Info Fairs are staged by a host of community partners lead by Human Resources Development Canada. They offer hands-on exposure to a full range of career planning, job search and interview skills along with the latest information on work experience opportunities.

    The Youth Info Line is a toll-free line at 1 800 935-5555 that provides callers with information on all of the Government of Canada's Youth Employment Strategy offerings. Youth Link, a publication listing of 300 Government of Canada youth-related programs, services and resources plus career planning material are part of the information material available to callers.

    The Youth Resource Network of Canada is a website located at www.youth.gc.ca. It offers over 3,000 on-line connections to timely information on education, job preparation and work opportunities.

    The Youth Employment Strategy website located at www.youth.gc.ca/YES acquaints visitors with all aspects of the Strategy including dates of upcoming Youth Info Fairs and hyperlinks to all the departmental programs of the Government of Canada.

    The National Graduate Register website located at http://ngr.schoolnet.ca provides on-line recruitment to 23 Youth Employment Strategy internship programs for unemployed or underemployed youth as well as summer job recruitment for students.

    ACCESSING LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES

    This part of the Youth Employment Strategy is designed to give Canadians, especially those with low and middle incomes, an equal opportunity to participate in the changing economy. As a result of measures introduced in the February 1998 Budget, the Youth Employment Strategy has been strengthened in the following ways:

    Improvements to the Canada Student Loans Program now offer tax relief on student loan interest and new Canada Study Grants help ensure the pursuit of studies on a full-time or part-time basis for needy students with children or other dependants.

    Canada Education Savings Grants were introduced to encourage families to save for education and make registered education savings plans (RESPs) more attractive with the government investing alongside families saving for their children's education.

    Tax-free Registered Retirement Savings Plan withdrawals, tax relief for part-time students, education credits for part-time study and child-care expense deductions for part-time studies are now in place to help Canadians upgrade their skills.

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    HIGHLIGHTS OF CANADA'S YOUTH EMPLOYMENT STRATEGY

    The Strategy annually assists over 1,000,000 young people with career planning information, financial assistance for post-secondary education and help in finding summer job and work experience opportunities

    On the school to work transition, the Strategy:

  • Has created over 300,000 work experience opportunities. In the case of Youth Internship Canada projects and Youth Service Canada projects, 88% and 85% of the respective project participants were either employed or had returned to school twelve months after completing their project.

  • Has lead to an average of 1,500 calls a week on its toll-free 1 800 Youth Info Line for career planning information and details on the Strategy's programs.

  • Has welcomed over 320,000 visitors to Youth Info Fairs across the country since February 1997.

  • Has encouraged 5,300 visits a week to the Youth Resource Network of Canada website with its 3,000 connections to useful information on everything from career planning to how to sharpen job interview skills.

    • In meeting the needs of at-risk youth, the Strategy:

  • Received funding commitments under the February 1998 federal budget that are expected to benefit some 5,000 young people a year in overcoming barriers that would otherwise leave them at risk of being permanently sidelined from the labour market.

    • For Access to Learning, the Strategy:

  • Provides financial assistance to 430,000 students a year.

  • Assists families in saving for their children's education through the new Canada Education Savings Grants;

  • Gives tax breaks on RRSP withdrawals to help part-time and mature students continue their studies.

  • Expands learning opportunities through Canada Study Grants for 60,000 part-time and mature students with dependants.

  • Provides the opportunity to Canadian youth to study and gain work experience in another country.

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