View monthly updates and historical trends for Ontario Youth Unemployment Rate. Source: Statistics Canada. Track economic data with YCharts analytics.

Unemployment rates of 25- to 29-year-olds, by educational attainment, Canada and jurisdictions. This table is included in Section E: Transitions and outcomes: Labour market outcomes of the Pan Canadian Education Indicators Program (PCEIP). PCEIP draws from a wide variety of data sources to provide information on the school-age population, elementary, secondary and postsecondary education, transitions, and labour market outcomes. The program presents indicators for all of Canada, the provinces, the territories, as well as selected international comparisons and comparisons over time. PCEIP is an ongoing initiative of the Canadian Education Statistics Council, a partnership between Statistics Canada and the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada that provides a set of statistical measures on education systems in Canada.

The number of people who are unemployed as a percentage of the active labour force (i.e. employed and unemployed).

Number of persons in the labour force (employment and unemployment), unemployment rate, participation rate and employment rate by age group and gender. Data are presented for 12 months earlier, previous month and current month, as well as year-over-year and month-to-month level change and percentage change. Data are also available for the standard error of the estimate, the standard error of the month-to-month change and the standard error of the year-over-year change.

In 2024, the youth unemployment rate in Canada amounted to 12.97 percent. Between 1991 and 2024, the figure dropped by 2.86 percentage points, though the decline followed an uneven course rather than a steady trajectory.

Unemployment rate, participation rate, and employment rate by type of student during school months, gender and age group, monthly.

In 2024, the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador had the highest unemployment rate in Canada. That year, it had a ten percent unemployment rate. In comparison, Québec had the lowest unemployment rate at 5.3 percent. Nunavut Nunavut is the largest and most northern province of Canada. Their economy is powered by many industries which include mining, oil, gas, hunting, fishing, and transportation. They have a high amount of mineral resources and many of their jobs come from mining, however, the territory still suffers from a high unemployment rate, which has fluctuated since 2004. The lack of necessary education, skills, and mobility are all factors that play a part in unemployment. Most of the population identifies as Inuit. Their official languages include English, French, and several Inuit languages. The capital is Iqaluit, which is their largest community and only city. The climate in Nunavut is a polar climate due to its high latitude, and as a result, it rarely goes above 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Unemployment in Canada The unemployment rate in Canada had been decreasing since 2009, but increased to 9.7 percent in 2020 due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Since 2006, landed immigrants have faced higher unemployment rates compared to those born in Canada. Youth unemployment in Canada has fluctuated since 1998, but has always remained in the double digits. Additionally, the average duration of unemployment in Canada in 2023 was about 17.4 weeks.

Unemployment Rate in Canada increased to 7.10 percent in August from 6.90 percent in July of 2025. This dataset provides - Canada Unemployment Rate - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

Regional unemployment rates used by the Employment Insurance program, by effective date, current month.

View monthly updates and historical trends for Ontario Youth Labour Force Participation Rate. Source: Statistics Canada. Track economic data with YCharts …

View monthly updates and historical trends for Ontario Youth Population. Source: Statistics Canada. Track economic data with YCharts analytics.

Number of persons in the labour force (employment and unemployment), unemployment rate, participation rate and employment rate by census metropolitan area, last 5 months. Data are also available for the standard error of the estimate, the standard error of the month-to-month change and the standard error of the year-over-year change.

Early engagement in employment-related activities is associated with greater lifetime labor force attachment, which correlates with positive health, social, and quality of life outcomes. People with disabilities often require vocational intervention to enter and remain in the workforce and reap the employment-related health and social benefits. Their labor force attachment brings about the added societal-level benefits of increased tax contributions and reduced social assistance funding. Reason and evidence both support the need for early intervention to facilitate young people with disabilities’ workforce entry. Based on available evidence and best practices, and in conjunction with expert input, a cost–benefit model was constructed to provide support for public investment in early employment intervention by demonstrating the societal-level benefits that could be projected. Results indicate the potential benefits for investment in early, targeted employment intervention at a societal level. Two personas were crafted to demonstrate the lifetime societal-level impact of investment in intervention for an individual with disabilities. The results provide relevant arguments for advocates, policy makers, program directors, and people entering adulthood with disabilities to understand the benefits of investing in interventions with the goal of long-term public savings.

Number of persons in the labour force (employment and unemployment) and not in the labour force, unemployment rate, participation rate and employment rate by Atlantic region, Central provinces, Western provinces, Indigenous population (First Nations or Métis) and Non-Indigenous population, sex, and age group, last 5 years.

This map presents the full data available on the MLTSD GeoHub, and maps several of the key variables reflected by the Employment Services Program of ETD.Employment Services are a suite of services delivered to the public to help Ontarians find sustainable employment. The services are delivered by third-party service providers at service delivery sites (SDS) across Ontario on behalf of the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development (MLTSD). The services are tailored to meet the individual needs of each client and can be provided one-on-one or in a group format. Employment Services fall into two broad categories: unassisted and assisted services.

Unassisted services include the following components:resources and information on all aspects of employment including detailed facts on the local labour marketresources on how to conduct a job search.assistance in registering for additional schoolinghelp with career planningreference to other Employment and government programs.

Unassisted services are available to all Ontarians without reference to eligibility criteria. These unassisted services can be delivered through structured orientation or information sessions (on or off site), e-learning sessions, or one-to-one sessions up to two days in duration. Employers can also use unassisted services to access information on post-employment opportunities and supports available for recruitment and workplace training.

The second category is assisted services, and it includes the following components:assistance with the job search (including individualized assistance in career goal setting, skills assessment, and interview preparation) job matching, placement and incentives (which match client skills and interested with employment opportunities, and include placement into employment, on-the-job training opportunities, and incentives to employers to hire ES clients), and job training/retention (which supports longer-term attachment to or advancement in the labour market or completion of training)For every assisted services client a service plan is maintained by the service provider, which gives details on the types of assisted services the client has accessed. To be eligible for assisted services, clients must be unemployed (defined as working less than twenty hours a week) and not participating in full-time education or training. Clients are also assessed on a number of suitability indicators covering economic, social and other barriers to employment, and service providers are to prioritize serving those clients with multiple suitability indicators.

About This Dataset

This dataset contains data on ES clients for each of the twenty-six Local Board (LB) areas in Ontario for the 2015/16 fiscal year, based on data provided to Local Boards and Local Employment Planning Councils (LEPC) in June 2016 (see below for details on Local Boards). This includes all assisted services clients whose service plan was closed in the 2015/16 fiscal year and all unassisted services clients who accessed unassisted services in the 2015/16 fiscal year. These clients have been distributed across Local Board areas based on the address of each client’s service delivery site, not the client’s home address. Note that clients who had multiple service plans close in the 2015/16 fiscal year (i.e. more than one distinct period during which the client was accessing assisted services) will be counted multiple times in this dataset (once for each closed service plan). Assisted services clients who also accessed unassisted services either before or after accessing assisted services would also be included in the count of unassisted clients (in addition to their assisted services data).

Demographic data on ES assisted services clients, including a client’s suitability indicators and barriers to employment, are collected by the service provider when a client registers for ES (i.e. at intake). Outcomes data on ES assisted services clients is collected through surveys at exit (i.e. when the client has completed accessing ES services and the client’s service plan is closed) and at three, six, and twelve months after exit. As demographic and outcomes data is only collected for assisted services clients, all fields in this dataset contain data only on assisted services clients except for the ‘Number of Clients – Unassisted R&I Clients’ field.

Note that ES is the gateway for other Employment Ontario programs and services; the majority of Second Career (SC) clients, some apprentices, and some Literacy and Basic Skills (LBS) clients have also accessed ES. It is standard procedure for SC, LBS and apprenticeship client and outcome data to be entered as ES data if the program is part of ES service plan. However, for this dataset, SC client and outcomes data has been separated from ES, which as a result lowers the client and outcome counts for ES.

About Local Boards

Local Boards are independent not-for-profit corporations sponsored by the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development to improve the condition of the labour market in their specified region. These organizations are led by business and labour representatives, and include representation from constituencies including educators, trainers, women, Francophones, persons with disabilities, visible minorities, youth, Indigenous community members, and others. For the 2015/16 fiscal year there were twenty-six Local Boards, which collectively covered all of the province of Ontario.

The primary role of Local Boards is to help improve the conditions of their local labour market by:engaging communities in a locally-driven process to identify and respond to the key trends, opportunities and priorities that prevail in their local labour markets;facilitating a local planning process where community organizations and institutions agree to initiate and/or implement joint actions to address local labour market issues of common interest; creating opportunities for partnership development activities and projects that respond to more complex and/or pressing local labour market challenges; and organizing events and undertaking activities that promote the importance of education, training and skills upgrading to youth, parents, employers, employed and unemployed workers, and the public in general.

In December 2015, the government of Ontario launched an eighteen-month Local Employment Planning Council pilot program, which established LEPCs in eight regions in the province formerly covered by Local Boards. LEPCs expand on the activities of existing Local Boards, leveraging additional resources and a stronger, more integrated approach to local planning and workforce development to fund community-based projects that support innovative approaches to local labour market issues, provide more accurate and detailed labour market information, and develop detailed knowledge of local service delivery beyond Employment Ontario (EO).

Eight existing Local Boards were awarded LEPC contracts that were effective as of January 1st, 2016. As such, from January 1st, 2016 to March 31st, 2016, these eight Local Boards were simultaneously Local Employment Planning Councils. The eight Local Boards awarded contracts were:Durham Workforce Authority Peel-Halton Workforce Development GroupWorkforce Development Board - Peterborough, Kawartha Lakes, Northumberland, HaliburtonOttawa Integrated Local Labour Market PlanningFar Northeast Training BoardNorth Superior Workforce Planning Board Elgin Middlesex Oxford Workforce Planning & Development BoardWorkforce Windsor-Essex

MLTSD has provided Local Boards and LEPCs with demographic and outcome data for clients of Employment Ontario (EO) programs delivered by service providers across the province on an annual basis since June 2013. This was done to assist Local Boards in understanding local labour market conditions. These datasets may be used to facilitate and inform evidence-based discussions about local service issues – gaps, overlaps and under-served populations - with EO service providers and other organizations as appropriate to the local context.

Data on the following EO programs for the 2015/16 fiscal year was made available to Local Boards and LEPCs in June 2016:Employment Services (ES)Literacy and Basic Skills (LBS) Second Career (SC) Apprenticeship

This dataset contains the 2015/16 ES data that was sent to Local Boards and LEPCs. Datasets covering past fiscal years will be released in the future.

Notes and Definitions

NAICS – The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) is an industry classification system developed by the statistical agencies of Canada, the United States, and Mexico against the backdrop of the North American Free Trade Agreement. It is a comprehensive system that encompasses all economic activities in a hierarchical structure. At the highest level, it divides economic activity into twenty sectors, each of which has a unique two-digit identifier. These sectors are further divided into subsectors (three-digit codes), industry groups (four-digit codes), and industries (five-digit codes). This dataset uses two-digit NAICS codes from the 2007 edition to identify the sector of the economy an Employment Services client is employed in prior to and after participation in ES.

NOC – The National Organizational Classification (NOC) is an occupational classification system developed by Statistics Canada and Human Resources and Skills Development Canada to provide a standard lexicon to describe and group occupations in Canada primarily on the basis of the work being performed in the occupation. It is a comprehensive system that encompasses all occupations in Canada in a hierarchical structure. At the highest level are ten broad occupational categories, each of which has a unique one-digit identifier. These broad occupational categories are further divided into forty major groups (two-digit codes), 140 minor groups

In 2022, around 1.7 million persons between the ages of 20 and 24 years old were employed in Canada. A further 2.3 million people between the ages of 30 and 34 years old were employed nationwide in that year.

This map presents the full data available on the MLTSD GeoHub, and maps several of the key variables reflected by the Second Career Program of ETD.The Second Career program provides training to unemployed or laid-off individuals to help them find employment in high demand occupations in Ontario. The intention of the SC program is to return individuals to employment by the most cost effective path. Second Career provides up to $28,000 to assist laid-off workers with training-related costs such as tuition, books, transportation, and basic living expenses, based on individual need. Additional allowances may be available for people with disabilities, and for clients needing help with the costs of dependent care, living away from home and literacy and basic skills upgrading, also based on individual need. People with disabilities may also be given extensions on training and upgrading durations, to meet their specific needs. Clients may be required to contribute to their skills training, based on the client’s total annual gross household income and the number of household members.About This DatasetThis dataset contains data on SC clients for each of the twenty-six Local Board (LB) areas in Ontario for the 2015/16 fiscal year, based on data provided to Local Boards and Local Employment Planning Councils (LEPC) in June 2016 (see below for details on Local Boards). These clients have been distributed across Local Board areas based on the client’s home address, not the address of their training institution(s).Different variables in this dataset cover different groups of Second Career clients, as follows:Demographic and skills training variables are composed of all SC clients that started in 2015/16.At exit outcome variables are composed of all SC clients that completed their program in 2015/16.12-month outcome variables are composed of all SC clients that completed a 12-month survey in 2015/16.The specific variables that fall into each of the above categories are detailed in the Technical Dictionary. As a result of these differences, not all variables in this dataset are comparable to the other variables in this dataset; for example, the outcomes at exit data is not the outcomes for the clients described by the demographic variables.About Local BoardsLocal Boards are independent not-for-profit corporations sponsored by the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development to improve the condition of the labour market in their specified region. These organizations are led by business and labour representatives, and include representation from constituencies including educators, trainers, women, Francophones, persons with disabilities, visible minorities, youth, Indigenous community members, and others. For the 2015/16 fiscal year there were twenty-six Local Boards, which collectively covered all of the province of Ontario. The primary role of Local Boards is to help improve the conditions of their local labour market by:engaging communities in a locally-driven process to identify and respond to the key trends, opportunities and priorities that prevail in their local labour markets;facilitating a local planning process where community organizations and institutions agree to initiate and/or implement joint actions to address local labour market issues of common interest;creating opportunities for partnership development activities and projects that respond to more complex and/or pressing local labour market challenges; andorganizing events and undertaking activities that promote the importance of education, training and skills upgrading to youth, parents, employers, employed and unemployed workers, and the public in general.In December 2015, the government of Ontario launched an eighteen-month Local Employment Planning Council pilot program, which established LEPCs in eight regions in the province formerly covered by Local Boards. LEPCs expand on the activities of existing Local Boards, leveraging additional resources and a stronger, more integrated approach to local planning and workforce development to fund community-based projects that support innovative approaches to local labour market issues, provide more accurate and detailed labour market information, and develop detailed knowledge of local service delivery beyond Employment Ontario (EO).Eight existing Local Boards were awarded LEPC contracts that were effective as of January 1st, 2016. As such, from January 1st, 2016 to March 31st, 2016, these eight Local Boards were simultaneously Local Employment Planning Councils. The eight Local Boards awarded contracts were:Durham Workforce AuthorityPeel-Halton Workforce Development GroupWorkforce Development Board - Peterborough, Kawartha Lakes, Northumberland, HaliburtonOttawa Integrated Local Labour Market PlanningFar Northeast Training BoardNorth Superior Workforce Planning BoardElgin Middlesex Oxford Workforce Planning & Development BoardWorkforce Windsor-EssexMLTSD has provided Local Boards and LEPCs with demographic and outcome data for clients of Employment Ontario (EO) programs delivered by service providers across the province on an annual basis since June 2013. This was done to assist Local Boards in understanding local labour market conditions. These datasets may be used to facilitate and inform evidence-based discussions about local service issues – gaps, overlaps and under-served populations - with EO service providers and other organizations as appropriate to the local context.Data on the following EO programs for the 2015/16 fiscal year was made available to Local Boards and LEPCs in June 2016: Employment Services (ES)Literacy and Basic Skills (LBS) Second Career (SC) ApprenticeshipThis dataset contains the 2015/16 SC data that was sent to Local Boards and LEPCs. Datasets covering past fiscal years will be released in the future.Terms and Definitions

NOC – The National Organizational Classification (NOC) is an occupational classification system developed by Statistics Canada and Human Resources and Skills Development Canada to provide a standard lexicon to describe and group occupations in Canada primarily on the basis of the work being performed in the occupation. It is a comprehensive system that encompasses all occupations in Canada in a hierarchical structure. At the highest level are ten broad occupational categories, each of which has a unique one-digit identifier. These broad occupational categories are further divided into forty major groups (two-digit codes), 140 minor groups (three-digit codes), and 500 unit groups (four-digit codes). This dataset uses four-digit NOC codes from the 2011 edition to identify the training programs of Second Career clients.Notes

Data reporting on 5 individuals or less has been suppressed to protect the privacy of those individuals.Data published: Feb 1, 2017Publisher: Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development (MLTSD)Update frequency: Yearly Geographical coverage: Ontario

The Employment Ontario Employer Registration form is used to register employers in the following programs: Employment Service (ES); Youth Job Connection (YJC)/Youth Job Connection: Summer (YJCS); Supported Employment (SE); Ontario Employment Assistance Services (OEAS).

Number of persons in the labour force (employment and unemployment) and not in the labour force, unemployment rate, participation rate, and employment rate, by immigrant status and age group, last 5 years.

About Youth Job Connection

The development of the Youth Job Connection (YJC) was a part of the government’s reinvestment in the Ontario Youth Job Strategy. YJC aims to update employment and training programs and services. The program is more evidence-based, coordinated, and effective. The goal of the program is to help young people improve their skills and find a job.

The year-round YJC program is for individuals aged 15 to 29, that experience many and/or complex barriers to employment. The program provides support beyond traditional job search and placement opportunities.

Types of support include:

Paid pre-employment trainingJob matchingPaid job placementsHiring incentives for employersMentorship servicesWork transition supportTo be eligible for the YJC program, individuals must be:15 to 29 years old at the time of registrationA resident of OntarioEligible to work in CanadaUnemployedNot participating in full time training or education, as defined by the institution

YJC is delivered by a network of service providers at service delivery sites (SDS) across Ontario on behalf of the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development (MLTSD). The services provided by YJC are tailored to meet individual needs of each participant.

About YJC Service Provider Funding

Funding for YJC is provided through two budget categories: operating funds and flow-through funds.

1. Operating Funds are for the direct delivery of all of the components of YJC. Costs related to the provision of YJC that would be considered part of a service delivery site’s day-to-day operations include, but are not limited to:

   staff and management salaries;    hiring and training of staff
   

   (including professional development); marketing (signage, paper/web ads, outreach, etc.); facilities (rent); facilities (mortgage payments) ONLY the interest portion of a mortgage payment is allowed as an Operating cost; other direct operating expenditures related to the delivery YJC.

Service providers can apply a maximum of 20% of their operating funds for administrative overhead. For each participant, $2,000 is allocated to operating funds. Administrative overhead recognizes costs necessary for operating an organization but not directly associated with the delivery of the Youth Job Connection program. For example, a portion of the salaries and benefits of the Executive Direction, information technology (IT), or financial staff who work for an organization, but spend a portion of their time dedicated to administrative functions that support the program.

Note that Operating Funds cannot be used for termination and severance costs.

1. Financial Supports and Incentives include two types of “flow through” funding:

a) Employer placement incentives;

b) Individual employment and training supports.

Total financial supports and incentives are budgeted at an average of $4,600 per participant. The maximum allowed per participant is $7,500. This funding can be used for a combination of placement incentives for the employer, and employment and training supports for the individual. Only registered participants can access these funds. The financial and support incentives for the YJC funding include:

a. Employer Placement Incentives are available to employers to offset costs of temporary reductions in productivity, increased supervision requirements, and other expenses resulting from a job placement. These incentives are meant to encourage employers to hire and train participants for the negotiated placement duration. The amount of the incentive can be related to the cost of the participant’s wages and may cover 100 percent of the wages for the entire placement where it is identified that it will be required to meet the employment goals of a participant.

b. Training/Skills Enhancement Support include three categories of supports:

  Pre-Employment

Stipend Job Placement Support Training/Skills Enhancement Support

i. Pre-Employment Service Stipends are given to registered participants when they participate in pre-employment services. The pre-employment stipend will be no more than 90 hours at the current hourly minimum wage. For example, at an hourly minimum wage of $11.25 (current as of October 1, 2015), the pre-employment stipend will be no more than $1,012.50 per participant. Access to stipends are not linked to family or personal income levels. There is no requirement to use the Low Income Cut-off (LICO) threshold to determine access to these stipends. Access to stipends is not based on a cost reimbursement and is not meant to represent a basic living allowance.

ii. Job Placement Support is designed to remove barriers to young people participating in the placement. Examples of supports that can be covered include work clothing, equipment, childcare, and transportation costs. The maximum value for job placement support is $1000 per participant. Exceptions over the maximum limit are permitted for youth with disabilities. Access to these supports is not linked to family or personal income levels. There is no requirement to use the LICO threshold to determine access to these stipends.

iii. Training/Skills Enhancement Supports are available for skills enhancement or job-related training linked to the job placement. Not all participants will need these supports. This funding is only available for participants who need it to ensure job placement success.

About This Dataset

This data contains financial data on all service delivery sites that were contracted to deliver Youth Job Connection during the 2015/16 fiscal year. Specific data includes:

  Target Number of Participants    Original Funding Allocations    Revised Funding Allocations    Total Funding Received from MLTSD    Total Expenditures as Reported by the

Service Provider Total Expenditures Approved by MLTSD

Target Number of Participants: Two values are presented for this data element – the target for each service delivery site agreed to in the original agreement signed by the service provider and MLTSD, and the revised target from the most recent relevant agreement amendment agreed to by the service provider and MLTSD.

Original Funding Allocations: These values are presented for each of the two (operating and financial service incentives) budget lines, and are the values for each service delivery site agreed to in the original agreement signed by the service provider and MLTSD.

Revised Funding Allocations: These values are presented for each of the two (operating and financial service incentives) budget lines, and are the values for each service delivery site agreed to in the most recent relevant agreement amendment agreed to by the service provider and MLTSD.

Total Funding Received from MLTSD: This is the total amount of funding received by each service delivery site from MLTSD in the 2015/16 fiscal year. Funding is sent to service delivery sites monthly, with each payment being 1/12th of the total allocation for the fiscal year. If the total allocation is revised through an agreement amendment, the remaining monthly payments are prorated to account for the revision. The monthly payments to service delivery sites are not broken down by the two budget lines for YJC – thus the value in this dataset for total funding received includes both budget lines for the 2015/16 fiscal year.

Note that even after agreement amendments, the final monthly payments may be adjusted if it becomes apparent that the service delivery site will not expend its full allocation by the end of the fiscal year (i.e. by not meeting their participant target, by payments to employers for placements ending prematurely due to participants quitting, etc.). In these cases, the final monthly payments are adjusted based on an estimate of how much the service delivery site will not expend its full allocation. As a result, in these cases the Total Funding Received value will not equal the sum of the four Revised Allocations values. In addition, because these adjustments are estimates only, the Total Funding Received value may not equal the sum of Total Expenditure as Reported by the service provider if the estimates prove being incorrect. If the amount of funding a service provider received in a fiscal year differs from the amount of expenditures approved by MLTSD, the balance is either refunded to the service provider or deducted from monthly payments for the next fiscal year.

Total Expenditure as Reported by the Service Provider: After the conclusion of the 2015/16 fiscal year, each service delivery site reported to MLTSD the total of all expenditures it is claiming under the two budget lines.

Total Expenditure Approved by MLTSD: This value is the amount of each service delivery site’s expenditures (as reported by each service provider after the conclusion of the 2015/16 fiscal year) that were approved by MLTSD as claimable expenses under each of the budget lines.

The data outlined above is drawn from the following sources:

Contracts (including subsequent Amendments): These are binding legal documents signed by service providers and MLTSD, and include the following data elements:

  Target Number of Participants

(Original and Revised) Original Funding Allocations

Statement of Revenue and Expenditure Report: This document was prepared by service providers and was due to MLTSD on June 10th, 2016, and provides an overview of the service provider’s finances for the 2015/16 fiscal year for each service delivery site. The following data elements were drawn from this report: Revised Funding AllocationsTotal Funding Received from MLTSDTotal Expenditure as Reported by the Service ProviderTotal Expenditure Approved by MLTSD

Notes

The data for this dataset was extracted from MLTSD's data reporting system in September