EDITORIAL: No ‘resilient’ economy for young workers

Fraser Institute: “Canada’s youth unemployment is a crisis"

Published Apr 30, 2026  •  Last updated 12 minutes ago  •  2 minute read

Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks at the Canada’s Building Trades Unions’ annual conference held at Hilton Lac-Leamy in Gatineau, Quebec on April 29, 2026. Photo by Hyungcheol Park /Postmedia Network

Canada’s high youth unemployment rate flies in the face of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s boast about the “resilience” of the economy in the government’s spring economic update this week.

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While high unemployment is a concern across all age groups, Statistics Canada’s most recent labour force survey reported that the youth unemployment rate of 13.8% in March was more than double the national average of 6.7%.

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A study by the Fraser Institute released Thursday by Philip Cross, former chief economic analyst for Statistics Canada, reported that last year, 437,000 young people between 15 and 24 years of age looked for a job but could not find one, up a staggering 57% from 290,000 in 2022.

Over the last three years, youth unemployment increased from 10% in 2022 to 13.8% in 2025, the largest three-year increase on record when the economy was not in a recession, the report noted.

“Canada’s youth unemployment is a crisis and will have serious consequences in later years when youths today who are unable to secure work try to find steady employment as adults,” Cross warned, describing the recent increases in youth unemployment as “extraordinary.”

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The dismal state of youth unemployment was also reflected in a survey released by the Angus Reid Institute this week that found rising concerns over jobs and unemployment among those aged 18 to 24, with 38% in that demographic choosing it as a top issue, more than double the 18% who said this at the beginning of 2025.

Cross noted the previous Justin Trudeau government’s high immigration polices, which dramatically increased the supply of young workers without the necessary economic growth to absorb them, is one of the main reasons for high youth unemployment today.

Another factor, he said, were the simultaneous hikes to the minimum wage in many provinces.

While increasing minimum wages is popular among politicians because it puts the onus on the private sector to pay for a policy politicians then take credit for, its practical impact in a struggling economy is to reduce the demand for young workers because of the increased costs imposed on businesses.

“The extraordinary surge in youth unemployment in Canada is a homegrown problem, and policymakers in Ottawa and in provincial legislatures should review the policies that are making it worse,” Cross said.

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