Youth Employment Series: High-Level Impacts of COVID-19 on the Youth Workforce in Niagara

Home Youth EmploymentYouth Employment Series: High-Level Impacts of COVID-19 on the Youth Workforce in Niagara

The pandemic has had employment impacts on Niagara’s working population; some groups, such as women and youth, experienced larger impacts than others. Last year NWPB published a report on the gendered employment impacts seen throughout the pandemic.

This year we are publishing a series of briefing notes that highlight employment trends of youth in Niagara. In this first note, we wanted to start out with the basics and share some baseline information on youth living and working in Niagara.

These insights help set the stage for conversations on youth employment, but also provide a local lens to work on youth-focused post-pandemic recovery that is occurring at a national level (e.g., Canadian Heritage Canada’s First State of Youth Report; YWCA Canada and YMCA Canada Preventing a Lockdown Generation: A Plan to Support Canada’s Youth in Post-Pandemic Recovery).

Youth Population

Between 2001 and 2020, youth aged 15-29 comprise between 18.0% and 19.1% of the total population living in Niagara.

Source: Statistics Canada. Table 17-10-0139-01 Population estimates, July 1, by census division, 2016 boundaries

Youth Labour Force – Key Performance Indicators

Data from Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey provide insights on the youth labour force (i.e., individuals age 15-24) that live in the St. Catharines-Niagara CMA. Below we see three key indicators for the local youth labour force: unemployment, participation, and employment rates.

Throughout 2020, youth saw considerably higher unemployment rates and lower participation and employment rates than in 2019.

Source: Statistics Canada. Table 14-10-0385-01 Labour force characteristics, annual

Youth Employment

Throughout the first year of the pandemic, we saw that employment for youth was considerably lower than what was seen in 2019.

When we look at more recent trends in full-time employment, there has been a consistent decrease in the number of individuals reporting full-time employment between August 2020 and February 2021. In contrast, youth working part time experienced a significant decline between February and May 2020, with a subsequent increase in the fall, which likely reflected seasonal hiring trends.

Source: Statistics Canada. Table 14-10-0385-01 Labour force characteristics, annual

Stay tuned for our next updates on the experiences of local youth in and seeking employment. If you are interested in monthly updates for local youth employment, feel free to check out our interactive Youth Employment Dashboard.

Would you like to know more? NWPB is ready for your questions. Please reach out to Vivian Kinnaird (vivian@nwpb.ca) or Thalia Semplonius (thalia@nwpb.ca).

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