"I’m Kind Of Waiting For Life To Start”: Gen Z Faces Canada's Worst Youth Unemployment In Decades



Graduating into a world of possibilities once felt like a given. But for Gen Z, that promise is starting to feel like a myth.

Youth unemployment in Canada is the highest it’s been in nearly 25 years; and unless you count the pandemic years, it’s the worst since the 1990s. That’s not just a stat. It’s a daily reality for young people across the country who are trying and struggling to launch their careers.

Take Sarah Chung, a recent media and communications graduate from the University of Calgary. She’s an honours student. She should be walking into a career. Instead, she’s walking into uncertainty.

“It’s bleak,” she told CBC News. Despite her degree, Sarah hasn’t been able to land a job in her field. She’s considering grad school, but not because she wants more school; it just feels like her only option right now.

And she’s not alone. According to Statistics Canada, youth aged 15 to 24 are facing an unemployment rate not seen since the days when Jean Chrétien was prime minister. Back then, there was no gig economy, no social media, no AI replacing entry-level work.

Now it’s 2025, and young workers are facing a tough mix of economic challenges:

  • The inflation crisis that followed the pandemic

  • Surging population growth that outpaces job creation

  • Growing fears of a recession

  • Ongoing U.S. trade tensions and instability

All of this has made finding stable, meaningful work harder than ever.

“Youth unemployment can be a canary in the coal mine,” said Tricia Williams of the Future Skills Centre. It’s one of the earliest signs that something is off in the broader labour market.

After the hiring boom that followed lockdowns, things started slowing down again. Rising interest rates, cautious employers, and increased competition have changed the game; and not in Gen Z’s favour.

York University student Thivian Varnacumaaran says he’s applied for 400 to 500 jobs since December. He hasn’t landed one.

“I wouldn’t say I’m pessimistic, but I’m really realistic about the situation,” he said.

Many young people are doing whatever they can to stay afloat. Ben Gooch, a mechanical engineering grad from McMaster, is working part-time at a garden centre while job hunting. He’s applied to more than 100 positions, and he’s exhausted.

“I feel like I’m just throwing darts out at a wall and hoping to get lucky and hit something,” he told CBC.

The stakes are high. Research shows that entering the job market during a downturn can cause what economists call “wage scarring.” That means earning less, sometimes for years, just because you started your career in the wrong economy. It can even affect mental health and long-term stability.

Some people are working jobs that require only a high school diploma. Others are going back to school, unsure of what else to do. Many are comparing their struggles to the paths their parents had in their 20s; jobs, homes, security.

“I don’t have a full time job yet, haven’t started my career,” Gooch said. “I’m kind of waiting for life to start.”

And while government programs like Canada Summer Jobs have offered small boosts, they’re not nearly enough to fix what’s broken.

If youth are the future, what does it mean when they’re stuck in place?

It’s time we stop telling young people to “just keep applying” and start creating an economy that’s actually ready to include them.

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Quotes and statistics in this article were originally reported by CBC News. Read the full piece here.
Photo credits: Eric Hynes.

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