Same old won't help young Canadians

After years of isolation in the wings, angry young people are storming onto centre stage. Their chief demand is jobs.

Youth unemployment is a global problem. The nations with the highest youth unemployment - about 24 per cent — are those in North Africa and some parts of the Middle East — the areas where the flames of revolt have burned the most fiercely. The young are using their familiarity with the social media to bring the mobs into the streets. "Thank you Facebook," says a sign scrawled on a building in Tunisia.

Egypt is running afoul of "the paradox of autocracy" — governments educate the young and then find they were not willing to follow authority or accept poor jobs.

In Canada, youth unemployment has hit 13.6 per cent, compared to the general rate of 7.8 per cent. Many young persons are caught between the baby boomers, who are hanging onto their jobs even though some of them are turning 65, and shaky labour markets. Our youth unemployment rate is better than America's (18 per cent), but worse than Australia's (12.7 per cent).

"The older generations have eaten the future of the younger ones," former Italian prime minister Giuliano Amoto told Corriere della Sera.

Canada's Employers' Coalition for Advanced Skills, a national employer-educators group, wants more federal help for colleges and institutes.

Pamela Fralick, a member of the coalition, told a House of Commons committee that "in almost every sector of the economy, skilled-worker shortages are beginning to have a significant impact on the competitiveness and productivity of the Canadian economy."

The skills shortages present Canada with a paradox: We have high youth unemployment and serious labour shortages.

A January survey of employers by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business found 34 per cent of corporations said "shortage of skilled labour" was their main business constraint. But another 13 per cent said a shortage of unskilled or semi-skilled labour was their biggest problem.

Ottawa's answer to this has been to let loose Jason Kenney, the immigration minister. He has left this year's immigration target at the same level as last year -- 240,000 to 265,000. Last year, we took in 280,636 immigrants, the highest level in 57 years.

How much longer, however, can we expect other nations to educate our workers? Is it fair to lure away skilled workers from developing nations, such as India, who need them?

Many unemployed, particularly uneducated and inexperienced people, say they don't take jobs because the pay is too low to entice them away from welfare. Britain is attempting to solve this problem two ways: It has cut welfare and it is also giving the unemployed a credit if they sign up for a job.

Canada's problems with the young start when they are in the womb.

In terms of infant mortality, the latest OECD figures show Canada has slipped from sixth place in the world to 24th, a massive drop. We are now just above Poland and Hungary with 5.1 deaths per 1,000 live births of infants less than one year of age. We didn't even make the top 10 -- northern European nations, Japan and Australia.

Our record is "shocking," says the Conference Board of Canada. The Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada wants a national birthing strategy. Ottawa should care about the 1,181 infants who died, it says.

In an additional report, UNICEF reported of the 24 nations in the OECD, Canada ranked ninth in children's health and 17th place in children's material well-being, which includes family income and housing.

Marv Bernstein, chief adviser on advocacy for UNICEF Canada, says "children pay the highest cost in inequality, but taxpayers also pay through increased strains on health and hospital services, on remedial schooling and on welfare and the justice system."

Last week, an army of Harper government MPs -- supported by $6.5 million in advertising paid for by taxpayers -- was racing around Canada promoting the government. They're talking about capital projects such as traffic circles and kiddie parks.

They're not talking about new federal approaches to infants and unemployed youth -- because there haven't been any.

Tom Ford is the managing editor

of The Issues Network.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition March 7, 2011 A10