Parents wondering why their kids don’t go out and get a job like they did growing up may want to ease up on the laziness-of-a-generation argument.
A new report published Wednesday adds to evidence that today’s young workers are suffering a record drought in work across their traditional sectors of employment, namely fast-food joints and retail jobs at the mall.
A new CIBC World Markets report puts the jobless rate among the 15-18 cohort at 20 per cent – a record high and nearly triple the national average.
It seems cashiers and other lower-wage earners are getting a little greyer, or increasingly hail from another country, not the neighbour’s house.
“It’s no longer the pimply-faced kid asking you whether you want fries with that,” Avery Shenfeld, CIBC’s chief economist said in the study.
Even out of work 20-somethings are taking up more jobs in areas traditionally occupied by high-schoolers looking to make an extra buck.
“Young adults, displaced older workers or immigrants whose education and skills are not always fully rewarded in the job market have been pushed into low-wage work during what has been a fairly lacklustre economic recovery,” the economist said.
Read more: In Toronto, a window into tougher prospects facing young job seekers
“Manufacturing has been steadily shrinking its share of the workforce, and of late, governments are also paring back,” he said.
“The lack of higher paying work has forced … parents into taking the kind of employment previously reserved for teenage students.”
Experts generally agree, early employment greatly helps younger workers transition smoothly into the workforce. And the longer that process takes, the dimmer a person’s prospects become.
The CIBC report also suggests the lack of jobs among some in lower-income homes can have farther-reaching consequences.
“Student jobs are not just about being able to splurge for designer jeans. For lower income, single parent households, those extra dollars can be material, and are a source of savings for higher education,” the report said.
Many of the higher-paying jobs wiped out during the recession aren’t likely coming back, economists say, but a faster rebound in the global economy would help generate better-paying positions in areas related to exports, a side of the domestic economy being looked to to support growth over the next few years.
Exports unexpectedly slipped in July.
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