Chaston Dustyhorn describes himself as an employee who can both take direction and apply leadership skills when asked to. Now he just needs to find somewhere to show off those skills.
“It is pretty hard to find a job now because some businesses are just looking for people who are more well experienced,” said Dustyhorn, a Grade 11 student in Saskatoon.
READ MORE: Unemployment rises in Saskatchewan during September
Dustyhorn is one more than roughly 41,000 people in Saskatchewan who are out of work, according to Statistics Canada. The provincial unemployment rate in September was 6.8 per cent, compared to 5.2 percent the previous year.
Saskatchewan now sits behind British Columbia, Manitoba and Ontario when it comes to the lowest unemployment rate in Canada.
“In the trades or elsewhere, you know, there is a bit of strain,” said Cory Alexson, the White Buffalo Youth Lodge youth leadership coordinator. Alexson is helping Dustyhorn put together a resume and look for work.
“I take it upon myself to make sure the young people are ready if an opportunity does come up that they’re going to succeed rather than just be caught off guard by it.”
READ MORE: Sask. unemployment up by 30 per cent since last August
Alexson said there can be many barriers to achieving employment, especially in Saskatoon’s inner city.
“The people out here just need that opportunity.”
Alexson said achieving a higher level of education is the most effective way for those unemployed to break through the barriers facing them. Saskatchewan Polytechnic provost Anne Neufeld agreed with his sentiment.
“By every measure a college graduate will do better on all fronts,” Neufeld said.
Recent Saskatchewan Polytechnic graduates posted a 93 per cent employment rate in a student survey, Neufeld said. She credits the high rate to the school’s focus on bringing professional input into the classroom.
“We have over eight hundred industry experts who contribute their time to Saskatchewan Polytechnic to help us on an annual basis keep that curriculum relevant,” Neufeld said.
READ MORE: Canadian economy smashes expectations, adds over 67,000 new jobs
Saskatchewan Polytechnic nursing student Taunia Heffer said job security was one of the main reasons why she enrolled in the institution.
“The thing with health care is there’s always going to be a need,” Heffer said.
“From the very young to the very old and everywhere in-between, everybody needs a nurse at some point in their life.”