With the COVID-19 pandemic keeping many people’s businesses closed, or running at a reduced capacity, many Canadians have been left looking for work. Even though the unemployment rate has recovered significantly from it’s record high 13.7% in the month of May, a significant number of Canadians still find themselves unemployed.
One group of people who are looking for jobs are high school students. Many high school students are not eligible for any of the financial relief benefits provided by the government of Canada, and have been left wondering how they are going to pay for post-secondary school next year. One high school student, Justin Hillier, says that he’s afraid he won’t be able to afford to continue his education.
“There’s no doubt OSAP will help, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to swing it to be honest with you. Not without a job at least. Having to pay rent, having to pay for groceries and tuition, I just don’t know if it will be doable.”
Justin isn’t alone.
During the summer of 2020, the government of Canada through the Canada Summer Jobs program helped students find work, and subsidized the pay for the employer up to the province’s or territory’s minimum wage. The program ended on August 28th, leaving many students without work as their final year of high school rolled around. With the pandemic showing no signs of slowing down, the job market is not expected to reach a normal state for quite some time. For context, according to Statistics Canada, during the recession of 2008 and 2009 the unemployment rate peaked at 8.7% and took nearly nine years to recover to the pre-recession rate. The peak unemployment rate so far during the COVID-19 pandemic was 13.7%.
Hillier says that an added struggle for him right now is finding a job where he is able to get decent hours, while still having time for school work.
“I want to go somewhere that’s willing to give me lots of hours, but at the same time I need to work somewhere that understands I’m a student, and I have homework that needs to get done. It’s hard finding any jobs right now, especially somewhere that lets you get that balance like that.”
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