NEET kids: The effort behind lowering Canada’s worrying youth unemployment levels

If you think it’s difficult to find a job right now, try being a young person.

The latest data from Statistics Canada shows that youth unemployment climbed to 14.1 per cent in February, once again nearing the September 2025 high of 14.6, which hasn’t been seen since the recession in 2010.

It’s a number that Tim Lang, president and CEO of Youth Employment Services in Toronto doesn’t like.

“We usually see these types of numbers when it is a recession,” he said.

“We suddenly have the issues of the tariff threats and companies being cautious and interest rates … and if we get into a recession as well, then it could be almost a perfect storm. It would be very difficult for young people.”

Youth Employment Services provides employment counselling, skills training and administers job placement programs across Canada. 

The youth aged 15-24 who are coming through the doors lately are dealing with new challenges, said Lang.

“When they come to us, they are in a state of desperation,” he said. 

@futureofgood Have you heard of this term before? #Canada #Employment #Jobmarket #Youngpeople #NEET ♬ original sound – Future of Good

Althea, 19, can relate.

The Winnipeg teenager, who said she is currently enrolled at the University of Manitoba, has been looking for part-time work since she graduated high school in June of 2025.  

“I mean I have sent out hundreds of resumes,” she said. “It’s like they all go into some giant black hole and no one ever calls you back.”

She’s done numerous things to try to get her foot in the door to any retail or restaurant job. She said she’s had her resume looked at by professionals, does volunteer work and has reached out to her friends and family looking for help.

“My mom told me to go hand out paper copies of my resume but everywhere I went, they told me to apply online.

“You look on places like Indeed and there’s so many scams, so many places that say they want people but then want like five years of experience for minimum wage…I’m smart, I’m nice, I like talking to people but nothing.”

According to Statistics Canada, the growing number of NEET youth (Not in Employment, Education or Training) “reignites longstanding concerns associated with unproductive youth, who may be at risk of economic and social difficulties.”

A study by non-profit public policy group Blueprint in 2018 showed that NEET youth faced numerous barriers to employment, including familial caregiving, transportation, mental health and housing. 

In the study, 47 per cent of youth surveyed in Ontario said there weren’t enough jobs available where they live, and 38 per cent said the available jobs weren’t suited to them.

The study recommended numerous actions for policymakers and the government, including better coordination among employment services, strengthening mental health supports, adopting a more holistic approach that addresses complex needs, and improving data. 

Little has been done to implement any of those ideas, said Lang. 

“Unfortunately, nothing has gotten better. In many ways, it’s gotten worse. Housing is more difficult. The job market has become more difficult.

“The mental health issues with young people seem to continue to be on the increase. So the issues are still there.”

The longer young workers struggle, the more it affects their mental health and long-term earning outcomes, said Lang, which is known as “wage scarring.” 

“When you’ve been unemployed for a year or longer, it affects their income 20 years out, 30 years out,” he said. 

A 2024 study by Kings Trust Canada and Deloitte shows large, long-term repercussions for both youth and the communities they live in, including lost GDP, increased government expenditures, higher criminal justice and healthcare costs, intergenerational conflict and eroding trust in civic systems. 

Therefore, it’s worth investing in programs that help youth find jobs, said Lang.

“The ROI is for every $1 of funding, it shows it returns $3 to the economy in terms of tax revenues and reduction of social services and so much more.”

The roadblocks to meaningful jobs for youth

While AI gets a lot of blame for the difficulties people of all ages are having finding meaningful work, there are even more roadblocks for youth, said Akosua Alagaratnam at FirstWork.org.

“Right now, [most work] youth programming is bundled into the general population programming,” she said.

“The issue with that is that if you have an 18-year-old, they don’t behave the same way like 30-plus-years-old do, right?

“Youth need time to also explore, get a sense of what they want to do in their lives. How can we navigate through that?”

The membership organization is actively trying to bridge the gaps they’re being told exist between youth and business owners. 

For example, she said, restaurants are telling FirstWork that youth aren’t applying for jobs, while youth are telling FirstWork they aren’t getting interviews at restaurants.

Alagaratnam found that restaurants were willing to hire newer workers but wanted them to have multiple years of experience, which “was never a request previously,” she said. 

So FirstWork is working with Restaurants Canada on an employer toolkit to help restaurant owners and youth engage with each other. 

Another major bump is youth levels of anxiety, which are currently the highest ever recorded, according to Statistics Canada. 

“We’re seeing this on the ground,” said Alagaratnam. 

Employers have told her stories of youth being unable to look people in the eye or bringing their parents to job interviews to manage that anxiety.

“And so (employers) are trying to say ‘How can we better engage with these youth?’”

Over at YES, Lang said they have a program called the Lighthouse Project that specifically helps youth navigating mental health challenges find employment.

The program also helps reduce the stigma around hiring people with mental health challenges, he added.

“All of us have some mental health issues from time to time in our lives,” he said.

“If they’re willing to allow us to disclose it to prospective employers, then we work with employers to train them or give them a toolkit on how they can help young people in the workplace.

-Tim Lang

Lang said they often work with smaller employers who don’t have robust DEI or HR systems and, therefore, can be wary of navigating special accommodations.

“The good news there is the data shows that people that have mental health disability, if you do accommodate them in small ways … can be your most productive and long-term employees,” said Lang, ultimately reducing bottom-line costs.

“I’m old enough to remember, sort of 30 years ago, when Canada and the world was changing with helping people with physical disabilities, like wheelchairs and accessible ramps,” said Lang.

“Now, we don’t even notice it, but to those hundreds of thousands of people it was life-changing.”

Having mental health accommodations built into jobs is the next progression, he said.

“Soon, we won’t even notice it and yet it will change the lives of hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of people.”

Despite the roadblocks, Alagaratnam said that youth not only want jobs but also want to make a positive difference with their work. 

“This generation of youth, they’re driven by purpose,” said Alagaratnam. 

“They’re driven to make an impact, they’re driven to care about everything around them…so they’re doing all the right things, like they’re going to school, they’re making their way through everything their parents tell them, but how do they still face an economy that is also struggling?”

What governments and schools can do

All levels of government can do a better job of ensuring supports, like mental health supports, are in place and of promoting various lines of work beyond the standard university education, said Lang.

“You look at Germany, their youth unemployment rate is half of ours,” he said, noting the German education system makes a concentrated effort to reduce the stigma of jobs in the trades by funding trades programs at the high school level.

And while organizations like YES are important to help transition youth from school to the workforce, Lang said colleges and universities need to be more nimble.

“We’ve started a program in cybersecurity because that’s an in-demand area. We’ve got a new one on AI…these programs that we can kind of quickly move on a dime.”

Governments and schools can also partner more intentionally, said Alagaratnam, noting that FirstWork does foster some collaboration but said it’s inconsistent. 

Instead, government, schools and community providers should have a presence in or near high schools and post-secondary institutions so students leaving schools will “know exactly where to go when they need additional support, exactly who to go to, to get the fundamentals that they need to upskill to be employment-ready.”

What employers can do

Alagaratnam and Lang both said employers need to engage in active outreach to understand the challenges younger workers face.

“One thing that I’ve heard now time and time again is they need to get to know the youth personally, see them in person versus seeing the millions of resumes that come through online platforms,” said Alagaratnam.

This kind of old-school, pounding-the-pavement approach may be good for both employers and youth, she added.

For frustrated youth

Alagaratnam said she remembers the frustration of finding work after graduating during the 2008-2009 recession, when youth unemployment reached 19 per cent at one point.

“So what I will say is, ‘Keep going.’”

“After applying, sometimes, to hundreds and hundreds of locations, you’ve got to stay positive because when you do get that interview, people can sense if you’re a little bit down,” Lang echoed, noting it’s not easy to do.

Both urged young people to take advantage of resources such as YES, FirstWork, and other organizations that connect them with employers and help them prepare for employment or upskilling. 

“Seek out the free resources that are in every community because they can really help,” said Lang. “There’s training, there’s free counselling.”

“They’re paid by the government. They are free for you to use,” added Alagaratnam.

“Go utilize that to the best of your ability because they will have summer job availabilities. They will know of contacts within the community that are looking to hire, and that is how you connect to your next role.”

Volunteering is also a great way to learn if a career a young person is considering is the right fit for them, she added.

“Try to find those opportunities that allow you to be in front of those people so that they can get to know you as a person.”