Summer job market improves

Unemployment for 17 to 19 year-old students in Canada is 2.2 per cent lower this June than it was last June, down from 16.0 per cent to 13.8 per cent, reports Statistics Canada.

But older students, those 20 to 24 years old, aren’t having a much easier time finding jobs this summer than last summer. Their unemployment rate remains unchanged from twelve months earlier at 11.0 per cent.

Still, Canadian youth face much lower unemployment than other countries. As of last month, the youth unemployment rates were 29 per cent in Italy, 32 per cent in Ireland, 24 per cent in Sweden, 20 per cent in the United Kingdom and 44 per cent in Spain.

Statistics Canada collects data specifically about students who are planning to return to post-secondary studies in the fall in its Labour Force Survey from May to August.