I’m exaggerating a bit, but in recent years you just had to be alive to get a job. An owner of three Tim Hortons in the Laurentians told me, in the spring of 2022, to what extent he had reduced his selection criteria for recruiting staff. “If the person knows their left and right, we take them! »
Despite everything, he had to reduce his opening hours. Customers banged their noses on the door in the evening and sometimes even in broad daylight due to lack of workers. We’ve never seen this, locked doors at Tim Hortons. Motorists, accustomed to frequenting this chain to take advantage of its toilets, were complaining.
We saw “wanted personnel” posters everywhere in Quebec. In desperation, employers multiplied bonuses of all kinds and seduction strategies. We even went so far as to hire children aged 12 or 13.
Exactly two years later, the situation is very different for young people, especially students looking for summer work. Statistics Canada revealed Friday that in April, the largest increase in the unemployment rate was recorded among 15-24 year olds. It now stands at 12.8%, the highest level since the summer of 2016 if we exclude the pandemic years (2020 and 2021).
In Quebec, it’s a little better, at 9.5%, but it’s significantly higher than the overall unemployment rate of 5.1%. And above all, it’s three points more than a year ago.
These data suggest a new reality for young people looking for summer jobs. In fact, some are already facing real life.
This is the case of Caroline’s “hard-working and resourceful” son who submitted between 50 and 60 CVs in Laval. At 16, he hoped to quickly get his first job. “With everything we’ve seen and read about the labor shortage in recent years, we thought it would be easy for him. Completely the opposite ! There is really no interest from employers. »
Most of the time, their teenager is coldly told “we have all our staff” and some businesses flat out refuse to take their CV. Caroline would like to understand what is happening and know what a young person with no experience can do if they don’t want to spend the summer at home in front of a screen.
This story in no way surprised the general director of the Carrefour Emploi Jeunesse (CEJ) in Laval, Christiane Pichette. She sees every day that young people have more difficulty finding summer employment.
It’s quite strange. The Ministry of Labor still talks about a labor shortage, but in employability organizations, that’s not what we feel. We are back to our pre-pandemic traffic.
Christiane Pichette, general director of Carrefour Emploi Jeunesse de Laval
To get a job, young people must now learn to look for a job with a CV and a good cover letter. They have to travel to meet employers, have interviews, sell their salad.
This all seems really obvious to people of my generation who dreamed of being chosen by McDonald’s when the youth unemployment rate was 20%. But for an 18 or 20 year old student who has always managed to find a job by simply scanning a QR code with their phone, a little shock is to be expected.
Those who need help can always turn to CEJs, which offer free workshops and tips for beefing up a CV in the absence of work experience.
Another mother told me that her 16-year-old son, who was looking for a cool summer job, is already reviewing his criteria. Because his intensive research leads to nothing.
“He finds it unfair that his big brother was hired in 15 minutes to be a counselor in a day camp, in 2021, without any experience, when he was 15 years old, and then in a grocery store. »
What happened to cause the situation to change so much?
Businesses have gotten used to having fewer employees and some have streamlined their operations, answers Christiane Pichette. One example among many: many restaurants are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, others are closed at lunchtime. This is without taking into account the increased number of newcomers and foreign students looking for work. Declining consumption in restaurants and stores, in response to the rising cost of living, is also part of the equation.
Unable to find staff for the service, a restaurateur from Quebec told me two years ago that he was seriously considering providing iPads for customers to place their orders. His retired mother was forced to give him a helping hand. This year, sales have “slowed so much” that its labor needs have melted like snow in the sun. From two or three delivery men on the weekend, it went to just one. “I have lost 2,200 customers over the past year,” says Matice Langevin, owner of Kyran-Ô-Pizza.
In the retail sector, the number of vacant positions fell from 32,000 to 16,000 in one year, according to the Quebec Retail Council. The shortage has not been resolved, but employers are mainly looking for qualified people to work in management, purchasing, human resources… jobs that are not accessible to students.
After two or three years during which the young people had the big end of the stick and imposed their demands, a return to balance takes place. Many parents who rolled their eyes at these whims will now have to deal with the depression of their offspring unable to find work.