Foreign worker cuts could improve youth unemployment rate, says Alberta jobs minister
Unemployment rate for Albertans 15 to 24 climbed to 14.3% in September
Alberta's minister of jobs, economy and trade says efforts to limit immigration levels to Canada could help lower the province's high youth unemployment rate.
Last week, the federal government announced a strategy to make significant cuts to Canada's immigration levels in an effort to soften pressures on the housing market and to stabilize countrywide population growth. It also suggests Canada's population will decrease by 0.2 per cent over the next two years, a notable shift from last year's 3.2 per cent increase.
The province's Jobs, Economy and Trade Minister Matt Jones said in a statement emailed to CBC News last weekend that a "prudent" move away from "unsustainable immigration levels" would provide Albertans with more opportunity to compete for high-quality jobs.
"Fewer temporary foreign workers would allow an opportunity for young Albertans to enter the workforce and fill these positions," said Jones, who was not available for a followup interview. "Employing more young people would help address youth unemployment and contribute to our economy."
Some observers of the provincial labour market aren't expecting the new immigration targets to be a quick fix for youths seeking work, while employers worry the move will make it more difficult to find skilled labour.
"We're seeing, obviously, youth unemployment has increased, and is quite high in Alberta. It's much higher than the rest of Canada. But it was also higher than the rest of Canada before the pandemic, so it's not necessarily a wholly new trend," said Charles St-Arnaud, chief economist at Alberta Central, which represents the province's credit unions.
"But there has been some evidence across Canada that it has been a much harder time for younger cohorts to find work over the past year, and part of the reason why is that there's a lot of available workers."
St-Arnaud said the change in immigration targets at the federal level does mean less competition for jobs — but while it impacts the supply side of labour, the economist says it doesn't mean employers will be more eager to hire teens.
"On the demand side, which is how much businesses are willing to hire, is not going to be affected."
Alberta's overall unemployment rate for September was 7.5 per cent, which is up two percentage points year-over-year, according to the province's economic dashboard. Alberta's rate was the second highest among all provinces, and one percentage point higher than the national average.
But for youth aged 15 to 24, that rate is nearly double. It climbed to 14.3 per cent this September, up 1.1 percentage points from September 2023. And the youth unemployment rate has remained the highest among all age groups in the province for decades, according to government data.
CBC News spoke to about a dozen teenagers trying to get a start in the working world who expressed frustration with being unable to land a job.
Mason Vega is 17 and says he's struggled to find a job because employers want more experienced workers.
"It's kind of unfair because I don't know how to get experience in order to get a job, but you can't get a job without experience. So it's kind of a loop, I guess," Vega told CBC News, adding he applied at a grocery store and nothing came of it.
Now, he's hoping to get a job with his friend's dad in order to gain some experience. Vega says he just wants to make his own money and enter the workforce.
"Some [youth] don't try at all, and then other people do try and then they still can't get jobs."
Alberta's population boom
Alberta set a record for population growth in 2023, growing by over 202,000 people that year. CBC News previously reported that interprovincial migration accounted for 27 per cent of that growth, permanent immigration accounted for 26 per cent and temporary international migration accounted for 39 per cent.
Temporary international migration was the largest component of the province's 2023 population boom, and also reflected a national trend.
Starting in 2025, the federal government's new Immigration Levels Plan will see the country's temporary population shrink, as it says "significantly more temporary residents will transition to permanent residents or leave Canada compared to new ones arriving."
Ottawa projects that Canada's temporary resident population will decline by 445,901 next year, and then 445,662 in 2026.
An earlier federal policy shift pertaining to hiring low-wage temporary foreign workers (TFWs) also already came into effect for certain Canadian employers in September, which the Canadian government said was a push to make sure businesses were investing more effort in hiring workers already in Canada.
Alberta's temporary population — a category that includes TFWs, international students and asylum seekers — has grown to over 253,000 people as of Q3 of this year, according to estimates from Statistics Canada. It's over 91,000 more people than the same time last year.
Kelly Ernst is the chief program officer with the Centre for Newcomers, a settlement service in Calgary helping connect newcomers with resources like housing and employment. He says the new federal plan won't trigger an immediate change in the number of people who can be employed.
"To say that youth unemployment will decrease because of this, I think, is a bit premature," he said.
"Even if you took all of [the temporary foreign workers] away … tomorrow, that probably isn't going to automatically move into youth unemployment."
Ernst says Ottawa's amended immigration targets aren't going to stop Alberta's population growth, as interprovincial migration is another factor contributing to the province's job demand landscape.
He also argued that many of the newcomers seeking job-search support from the Centre for Newcomers are health-care professionals who want their experience and education to be recognized by employers in Canada.
"What newcomers are really wanting is to have their credentials to be recognized and their experience be recognized, so they can get good employment when they're here," he said.
As for employers, Ernst says the centre has been hearing from a lot of trades businesses who are looking to hire new employees.
WATCH | Breaking down Canada's significant cuts to immigration levels:
Food service and restaurant work is a common entry-level job for young people.
Mark von Schellwitz, vice-president of Western Canada with Restaurants Canada, says young domestic workers are struggling to get entry-level jobs in the food service sector because the "industry is doing so poorly."
He believes skilled TFWs are vital to the restaurant industry to fill shortages, especially in terms of back-of-house employees, such as chefs and other kitchen workers. He says TFWs complement Canada's workforce as employers were already struggling to fill specific positions.
"You're not going to be able to hire Albertans if you don't have enough staff to keep your doors open. So you know, sometimes that lack of just one or two skilled people is really going to hurt the whole establishment," said von Schellwitz.
In urban centres, von Schellwitz argues, front-of-house employees — positions like servers and hosts — aren't hard to find.
"There are certainly lots of young people to choose from for those jobs that earn gratuities and make really good wages," he said.
$13 minimum wage for Albertans under 18
Wages for young people can also vary. Students under 18 in Alberta can be paid $13 an hour for their first 28 hours of work in a week, but employers can choose to pay more than this minimum wage.
Von Schellwitz's advice to young people searching for entry-level jobs in the restaurant industry is to "keep trying." He says young Albertans will be more likely to get jobs once the industry "becomes profitable again."
The province's most up-to-date data shows the accommodation and food services sector had a 7.5 per cent unemployment rate in September 2024, the third highest among all other Alberta industries.
One agency that helps connect youth with job opportunities says 2024 has been a difficult year for youth to find work.
Tara Huxley is the team lead of community services, recreation and social programs with the city's Youth Employment Centre, an agency serving Calgarians ages 15 to 24. It offers services such as employment counselling and resume building.
Huxley says they're hearing from more and more young people who are struggling to find jobs.
"What we're saying to a lot of our youth now is that it takes work to find work," she said.
"We're seeing it's a much tighter job market right now, and so you need a strategy and a game plan. You need to think about how you are competitive."
Within the past year, the centre has provided one-on-one counselling services for over 2,500 youth, and they're all eager to work, she said.
Huxley believes high youth unemployment is a complex issue that can't be linked to just one thing. She says high migration to Alberta, as well as employers having higher retention rates due to high inflation and the overall increased cost of living, are both impacting young people's ability to find jobs.
While a higher increase in the number of non-permanent residents, including international students, is affecting youth employment, Huxley said, "part of the vibrancy and vitality of Calgary is that it's open to all."
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With files from Natalie Valleau