Cost of living 7:52 Hey, kid, get a job! There are many of them…
It didn’t take 14-year-old Addison Taylor long to find a part-time job.
“I first started thinking about finding a job probably two or three months ago,” said a 9th-grader from Newmarket, Ont.
She had been looking after a child for about a year, but she wanted regular hours and a stable salary.
After carefully crafting his autobiography, Addison applied in three positions, providing both a solid lead in a tea shop that could begin in the summer and an offer to start as a host at a local Italian restaurant.
She chose the restaurant to start earlier. As she receives a reduction in tips, she also pays better.
“I didn’t have a lot of money and I wanted to be able to go out with my friends and do things like that.”
A sign advertising open positions was seen at the Cineplex Cinemas Varsity and VIP in Toronto on April 16. Cineplex employs thousands of part-time teenagers and offers benefits such as free movies. (Brandy Wickel / CBC)
Teenagers who want a summer job this year will probably find it easier than ever. Although youth employment dealt a major blow when the pandemic began, it has now fully recovered, along with most of the rest of employment.
Unemployment rate just reached a record low of 5.3 percent and Canada had more than 915,000 vacancies in the fourth quarter of 2021, according to the latest available data, close to the record in September 2021, when vacancies exceeded one million.
These jobs cross all types of sectors, including some where teenagers are most likely to work – food services and retail, according to Statistics Canada labor market analyst Lahouaria Yssaad.
“The largest number of vacancies is in accommodation and food services,” said Isad, followed by health and social services, which do not employ many teenagers. “Third is retail.”
A a study of Canadian business published last week – conducted by Angus Reed on behalf of the non-profit organization Threads of Life – found that 75% of respondents either already have young workers or plan to hire them in 2022.
“Almost anyone who wants to work can work,” said Tim Lang, president and CEO of Ontario’s Youth Employment Services. told the CBC. He says it’s a good thing, because when kids get on the job ladder, it helps both their families and the economy.
But because teenagers are less likely to look for work than in the past, many of these opportunities will be left on the table.
Demanding extracurricular schedules and academic pressure may be part of the reason teenagers are less likely to work today. (LightField Studio / Shutterstock)
The participation rate is decreasing
The labor force participation rate – the percentage of working or active jobseekers – among teenagers aged 15 to 19 has declined in recent decades.
Statistics from Canada have been collecting this type of data since 1976.
It says teenage labor participation peaked at just over 59 percent in 1989. In 2008, it was also really solid – 56.5%. But for years, it has been hovering exactly 50 percent, declining when COVID first struck. The latest figure, based on the first few months of 2022, puts it at 50.7%, Yssaad said.
This means that if teenagers were as likely to work today as they were in 2008, there would be more than 100,000 additional workers, according to an analysis by Restaurants Canada, a non-profit association representing the food service industry. fights staff shortages. especially acute from the pandemic.
Food service is the industry with the most vacancies and it is one of the sectors that employs the most teenagers. (Nathan Dennett / Canadian Press)
Too busy for work?
Howie Dayton, director of public recreation in the Toronto Department of Parks, Forestry and Recreation, agrees that there has been a “noticeable change” in the availability of part-time teens.
“We are competing with so many extracurricular activities and school pressures that we know young people are facing now,” said Dayton, who has worked in the leisure community for nearly 30 years.
“As a result, we need more people to fill the types of shifts we could have filled with fewer people years ago, because young people are not as free to work as many hours as we can.”
This certainly applies to Addison’s life.
“I play national volleyball and basketball, and since this was my first commitment, I have to make them a priority,” she said. “I have a school. I have lessons once a week… and, of course, sometimes I also like to go out with my friends.
However, after she was hired, Addison managed to arrange a schedule with the restaurant to work only on Tuesdays and Thursday evenings, when there are no training sessions or tournaments.
Salary, plus bonuses
Employers who hire many teenagers say they are vying to hire young workers.
Cineplex offers benefits such as free movies and games, says Alison Dell, head of human resources for the theater chain.
It employs about 9,000 part-time employees in Canada and the United States, about 80 percent of whom are between the ages of 15 and 25, from a variety of concession popcorn tasks to game management in their recreation room and entertainment Palladium venues.
“Cineplex has a long history of being a great employer for the first time,” she said, adding that pay is competitive and that the company puts a lot of emphasis on having a good employee culture.
Toronto’s Parks and Recreation Department conducts seminars for prospective employees on things like resume writing and job readiness. If the cost of the necessary certificates in things like first aid is a barrier, there is funding available to cover them, Dayton said. He also runs both personal and virtual job fairs, he said.
The Centerville theme park, which runs every summer on the island of Toronto, even hosts a semi-formal event, so its 400 young seasonal employees can celebrate with their friends from work.
Christine Blue got her first job at Centerville when she was 16, and today she is the head of human resources.
She recommends that candidates prepare a resume, even if they don’t have much to put in it.
“If this is your first job, we won’t expect you to have all these different places you’ve worked. All you need is the basics, “she said. “If you’ve looked after a few children, put that in there. If you have nothing, then just put your activities you do, your extracurricular things you participate in; volunteer [work] it’s great to put there your name, your address, all that stuff. “
When it came time for the interview, Blue said the key was for teenagers to do their best to overcome shyness and project enthusiasm.
“We want the candidate to be confident in the answers to the questions. You want to show that you solve problems … that you are capable and able to take on public conversations.
Asked what advice she would give to other teenagers who want to find a job, Addison said she only wants to go out there.
“I think you just have to reach out and take a risk and take that leap, because you can put off anything you want, like sitting at home, writing your resume, thinking about where you want to go,” she said.
“But eventually you’re going to have to go out and you’re going to have to apply for some jobs. And it’s really not as bad as it looks.”
Christine Blue is the head of human resources at Centerville Amusement Park in Toronto, which employs about 400 seasonal workers each year, many of them teenagers. He first started working there when he was 16. (Submitted by Christine Blue)
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