Is it getting harder to start a working life in Canada?
The start of a working life shapes earnings, skills and independence. Employment, education and pay each reveal a different part of that transition.
Youth unemployment is one warning light. Education participation, the wages of those in work and earnings after graduation help distinguish a difficult job search from a wider deterioration in the route into working life.
Three views of the start of working life
A difficult transition into work can mean no job and no education, weak pay among those employed, or disappointing earnings after study. These sources examine different populations and different periods. Together they add context; they do not produce a single score for a generation.
On narrow screens, scroll charts and tables sideways to read all values.
Outside both work and education
In the first quarter of 2025, 12% of 15-to-29-year-olds in the Canadian provinces were not in employment, education or training (NEET). That was 1 percentage point below the rounded 2015 estimate. These are first-quarter averages, not the share disconnected for a whole year or a measure of how long anyone remained outside work and education.
Read the table: NEET first-quarter averages — percentages and standard errors in percentage points
| Year (Q1) | Age | Total NEET | SE | NEET and unemployed | SE | NEET and outside labour force | SE | Rounding residual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 15 to 29 years | 13 | 0.3 | 5 | 0.2 | 7 | 0.2 | 1 |
| 2015 | 15 to 19 years | 7 | 0.3 | 2 | 0.2 | 4 | 0.2 | 1 |
| 2015 | 20 to 24 years | 14 | 0.4 | 7 | 0.3 | 7 | 0.3 | 0 |
| 2015 | 25 to 29 years | 17 | 0.5 | 7 | 0.3 | 10 | 0.4 | 0 |
| 2016 | 15 to 29 years | 13 | 0.3 | 5 | 0.2 | 7 | 0.2 | 1 |
| 2016 | 15 to 19 years | 6 | 0.3 | 3 | 0.2 | 4 | 0.2 | −1 |
| 2016 | 20 to 24 years | 14 | 0.5 | 6 | 0.3 | 8 | 0.4 | 0 |
| 2016 | 25 to 29 years | 17 | 0.5 | 7 | 0.3 | 10 | 0.4 | 0 |
| 2017 | 15 to 29 years | 12 | 0.2 | 5 | 0.1 | 7 | 0.2 | 0 |
| 2017 | 15 to 19 years | 6 | 0.3 | 2 | 0.2 | 3 | 0.2 | 1 |
| 2017 | 20 to 24 years | 13 | 0.4 | 6 | 0.3 | 7 | 0.3 | 0 |
| 2017 | 25 to 29 years | 16 | 0.5 | 6 | 0.3 | 10 | 0.4 | 0 |
| 2018 | 15 to 29 years | 12 | 0.3 | 4 | 0.1 | 7 | 0.2 | 1 |
| 2018 | 15 to 19 years | 6 | 0.3 | 2 | 0.2 | 4 | 0.2 | 0 |
| 2018 | 20 to 24 years | 13 | 0.4 | 5 | 0.3 | 8 | 0.3 | 0 |
| 2018 | 25 to 29 years | 15 | 0.5 | 5 | 0.3 | 10 | 0.4 | 0 |
| 2019 | 15 to 29 years | 11 | 0.3 | 4 | 0.1 | 7 | 0.2 | 0 |
| 2019 | 15 to 19 years | 6 | 0.3 | 2 | 0.2 | 4 | 0.2 | 0 |
| 2019 | 20 to 24 years | 12 | 0.5 | 5 | 0.3 | 7 | 0.3 | 0 |
| 2019 | 25 to 29 years | 14 | 0.5 | 5 | 0.3 | 9 | 0.4 | 0 |
| 2020 | 15 to 29 years | 14 | 0.3 | 5 | 0.2 | 9 | 0.2 | 0 |
| 2020 | 15 to 19 years | 9 | 0.3 | 3 | 0.2 | 6 | 0.3 | 0 |
| 2020 | 20 to 24 years | 14 | 0.5 | 6 | 0.3 | 8 | 0.4 | 0 |
| 2020 | 25 to 29 years | 17 | 0.5 | 6 | 0.3 | 10 | 0.4 | 1 |
| 2021 | 15 to 29 years | 14 | 0.3 | 6 | 0.2 | 8 | 0.2 | 0 |
| 2021 | 15 to 19 years | 7 | 0.3 | 2 | 0.2 | 4 | 0.3 | 1 |
| 2021 | 20 to 24 years | 15 | 0.5 | 8 | 0.4 | 8 | 0.4 | −1 |
| 2021 | 25 to 29 years | 18 | 0.6 | 7 | 0.4 | 10 | 0.5 | 1 |
| 2022 | 15 to 29 years | 11 | 0.2 | 4 | 0.2 | 7 | 0.2 | 0 |
| 2022 | 15 to 19 years | 6 | 0.3 | 2 | 0.2 | 4 | 0.2 | 0 |
| 2022 | 20 to 24 years | 13 | 0.4 | 6 | 0.3 | 7 | 0.3 | 0 |
| 2022 | 25 to 29 years | 13 | 0.4 | 5 | 0.3 | 8 | 0.3 | 0 |
| 2023 | 15 to 29 years | 11 | 0.2 | 4 | 0.1 | 7 | 0.2 | 0 |
| 2023 | 15 to 19 years | 6 | 0.3 | 2 | 0.2 | 4 | 0.2 | 0 |
| 2023 | 20 to 24 years | 12 | 0.4 | 5 | 0.3 | 7 | 0.3 | 0 |
| 2023 | 25 to 29 years | 13 | 0.4 | 5 | 0.3 | 9 | 0.4 | −1 |
| 2024 | 15 to 29 years | 12 | 0.2 | 5 | 0.2 | 7 | 0.2 | 0 |
| 2024 | 15 to 19 years | 6 | 0.3 | 2 | 0.2 | 4 | 0.2 | 0 |
| 2024 | 20 to 24 years | 13 | 0.4 | 6 | 0.3 | 7 | 0.3 | 0 |
| 2024 | 25 to 29 years | 15 | 0.5 | 6 | 0.3 | 9 | 0.3 | 0 |
| 2025 | 15 to 29 years | 12 | 0.3 | 5 | 0.2 | 7 | 0.2 | 0 |
| 2025 | 15 to 19 years | 6 | 0.3 | 2 | 0.2 | 4 | 0.2 | 0 |
| 2025 | 20 to 24 years | 14 | 0.5 | 6 | 0.3 | 7 | 0.3 | 1 |
| 2025 | 25 to 29 years | 16 | 0.5 | 7 | 0.3 | 9 | 0.3 | 0 |
How to read the NEET estimates
The national estimate excludes the territories and averages January to March, excluding summer employment. The unemployment and outside-the-labour-force columns are each shares of the whole age group; the unemployment column is not the usual unemployment rate, whose denominator is the labour force. Components can differ from the total because of source rounding.
Standard errors are retained as published. This page makes no statistical-significance claim about changes or differences; rounded rates and sampling uncertainty can make small differences difficult to interpret. All years use the October 2025 revised edition, rather than mixing original releases. The 15–29 total overlaps its three age subgroups and must not be added to them.
The pay of young employees
Median hourly wages describe people already employed. They do not measure whether a young person can find a job, how many hours they receive, or the wages attached specifically to an entry-level vacancy. Both full-time and part-time employees are included; self-employed workers are outside this wage series.
Read the table: Annual median hourly wages and the matched all-items CPI
| Year | Age | Nominal $/hour | Annual CPI (2002=100) | 2025 $/hour |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 15 to 24 years | 12.50 | 126.6 | 16.21 |
| 2015 | 25 to 54 years | 25.00 | 126.6 | 32.42 |
| 2016 | 15 to 24 years | 13.00 | 128.4 | 16.62 |
| 2016 | 25 to 54 years | 25.00 | 128.4 | 31.97 |
| 2017 | 15 to 24 years | 13.00 | 130.4 | 16.37 |
| 2017 | 25 to 54 years | 25.20 | 130.4 | 31.73 |
| 2018 | 15 to 24 years | 14.50 | 133.4 | 17.85 |
| 2018 | 25 to 54 years | 25.99 | 133.4 | 31.99 |
| 2019 | 15 to 24 years | 15.00 | 136.0 | 18.11 |
| 2019 | 25 to 54 years | 26.92 | 136.0 | 32.50 |
| 2020 | 15 to 24 years | 15.50 | 137.0 | 18.58 |
| 2020 | 25 to 54 years | 28.85 | 137.0 | 34.58 |
| 2021 | 15 to 24 years | 16.00 | 141.6 | 18.55 |
| 2021 | 25 to 54 years | 29.00 | 141.6 | 33.63 |
| 2022 | 15 to 24 years | 17.00 | 151.2 | 18.46 |
| 2022 | 25 to 54 years | 30.11 | 151.2 | 32.70 |
| 2023 | 15 to 24 years | 18.00 | 157.1 | 18.81 |
| 2023 | 25 to 54 years | 32.00 | 157.1 | 33.45 |
| 2024 | 15 to 24 years | 18.80 | 160.9 | 19.19 |
| 2024 | 25 to 54 years | 33.33 | 160.9 | 34.01 |
| 2025 | 15 to 24 years | 19.00 | 164.2 | 19.00 |
| 2025 | 25 to 54 years | 34.77 | 164.2 | 34.77 |
Wage and price definitions
Statistics Canada reports usual wages at the main job before tax and other deductions, including tips, commissions and bonuses. The Canada wage estimate excludes the territories. The annual all-items CPI for Canada is applied to the same year: nominal hourly wage × 2025 CPI ÷ that year’s CPI. No monthly price observation is substituted for an annual average.
The comparison is between changing groups of employees, not the same workers followed over time. The mix of jobs, industries, hours and workers can change the median. The broad CPI is a common price benchmark, not a youth-specific cost-of-living index or a measure of housing affordability. These wage figures must not be combined with graduate earnings as if hourly and annual income were interchangeable.
Earnings two years after graduation
The latest cohort here graduated in 2022 and is observed in 2024. These records therefore describe an earlier transition into work, not the circumstances of people graduating today.
Read the table: Graduate cohorts and the later earnings year — median employment income, 2024 dollars
| Graduation cohort | Earnings year | Qualification | Median employment income |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 2016 | Career, technical or professional training diploma | 44,000 |
| 2014 | 2016 | Undergraduate degree | 53,800 |
| 2015 | 2017 | Career, technical or professional training diploma | 44,500 |
| 2015 | 2017 | Undergraduate degree | 54,400 |
| 2016 | 2018 | Career, technical or professional training diploma | 45,700 |
| 2016 | 2018 | Undergraduate degree | 56,200 |
| 2017 | 2019 | Career, technical or professional training diploma | 47,400 |
| 2017 | 2019 | Undergraduate degree | 58,100 |
| 2018 | 2020 | Career, technical or professional training diploma | 46,500 |
| 2018 | 2020 | Undergraduate degree | 59,100 |
| 2019 | 2021 | Career, technical or professional training diploma | 48,200 |
| 2019 | 2021 | Undergraduate degree | 60,900 |
| 2020 | 2022 | Career, technical or professional training diploma | 47,800 |
| 2020 | 2022 | Undergraduate degree | 60,000 |
| 2021 | 2023 | Career, technical or professional training diploma | 49,200 |
| 2021 | 2023 | Undergraduate degree | 61,100 |
| 2022 | 2024 | Career, technical or professional training diploma | 50,900 |
| 2022 | 2024 | Undergraduate degree | 61,900 |
Who appears in the graduate comparison
The selected population is Canadian citizens and permanent residents aged 15–34 on 31 December of their graduation year, across fields of study. The diploma category is career, technical or professional training; it is not every type of diploma. Undergraduate degrees follow the issuer’s qualification classification, including its specific regroupings of professional and post-baccalaureate programmes.
The earnings measure excludes graduates with no income information and those studying full time two years after graduation. People reporting zero in both wages and net self-employment income are excluded from the median. Employment income includes wages, salaries and commissions plus net self-employment income; it is not restricted to full-time jobs or the first job after graduation. Figures are rounded to the nearest $100 and already expressed in 2024 constant dollars; they are not deflated again.
This is a comparison of different graduating cohorts, with conditions applied in the earnings year. It does not control for further education, field of study, hours, personal characteristics or selection into programmes. Differences are not a causal return to a credential, and the selected median does not establish what happened to excluded or non-earning graduates.
What still needs evidence
The records now describe a bounded part of disconnection, pay and graduate outcomes. They do not measure entry-level vacancies directly, follow every person from school into a first stable job, or identify the effects of labour-market policies. Those questions remain open.
Sources: Statistics Canada table 37-10-0196-01, released 2025-10-24; Statistics Canada table 14-10-0064-01, released 2026-01-09; Statistics Canada table 37-10-0301-01, released 2026-06-26; annual all-items CPI, table 18-10-0005-01. The three new source files were captured on 5 October 2026; the held CPI was captured on 4 October 2026. Source dates, reference periods and capture dates are distinct.
What the record shows
Employment grew 1.16 employed people per person aged 15 and over added over the year to Aug 2026
In the 12 months to Aug 2026, employment (age 15+, seasonally adjusted) rose by 216,500 while the LFS working-age population estimate rose by 187,000 — 1.16 employed people added per additional working-age person, vs 0.30 a year earlier. A ratio at or above 1 suggests employment growth is keeping pace with (or exceeding) working-age population growth; below 1 suggests the labour market is absorbing the growing working-age population more slowly than it is growing. This says nothing about participation-rate changes, part-time/full-time mix, hours worked, or sector/regional composition. In the latest month alone, employment changed by -41,700 people. The annual comparison's base month changed by -61,700 people from its preceding month; moving the base therefore changes the annual employment gain by +20,000. A higher annual ratio does not by itself establish stronger current-month employment.
Technical details
Youth unemployment ran 2.35x the prime-age rate in Aug 2026
Unemployment for ages 15-24 was 12.9% (seasonally adjusted) vs 5.5% for ages 25-54 in Aug 2026 — a ratio of 2.35, vs 2.34 a year earlier. Both rates are measured on the same seasonally-adjusted basis from the same monthly survey (StatsCan 14-10-0287), so the ratio is not distorted by basis mismatches the way cross-survey comparisons can be.
Technical details
Where institutions disagree
What cannot yet be known
How are recent graduates actually faring in the labour market?
What is missing: Administrative earnings are now qualified from Statistics Canada table 37-10-0301-01: selected Canadian graduate cohorts through 2022, observed two years later. These data exclude some graduates and do not measure contemporaneous hiring, underemployment or whether jobs match fields of study.
Consequence: Countability publishes the available cohort earnings, with their lag and exclusions. It does not use the youth age group as a substitute for recent graduates or treat earnings among selected earners as an employment rate.
Is entry-level and early-career labour demand actually shrinking, or is this a composition effect?
What is missing: No official Statistics Canada series isolates entry-level or early-career job demand. The Job Vacancy and Wage Survey (table 14-10-0432 and related) measures vacancies by industry, province, and occupation, but not by required experience level or candidate seniority. The Bank of Canada has itself named 'entry-level job vacancy declines' as something it watches without citing a dedicated official series for it.
Consequence: Countability publishes the youth-vs-prime-age unemployment ratio and the overall vacancy rate as the closest available proxies; neither directly measures entry-level demand, and this is stated wherever they are shown together.
How many Temporary Foreign Worker positions are employers being approved to fill (LMIA volumes)?
What is missing: A real ESDC/IRCC open-data LMIA employer list exists, but is published as separate per-quarter CSV resources rather than one continuous machine-readable series, and carries the publisher's own completeness caveat: it 'excludes all personal names' and 'is not complete and does not reflect all employers who requested or received an LMIA.' It counts positions on positive LMIAs, including subsequently cancelled ones, not a clean approval-volume metric.
Consequence: Countability does not read LMIA volumes for this reading. Work-permit flow series (already published, IRCC IMP+TFWP monthly) are shown as related context instead, with the concepts kept explicitly distinct (permits issued vs. LMIA positions approved are different steps in the process).
What has since been established
How many young Canadians are not in employment, education, or training (NEET)?
What is missing: The earlier source-absence finding was corrected on October 5, 2026. Statistics Canada table 37-10-0196-01 supplies national first-quarter NEET averages through 2025, with age groups and standard errors.
Consequence: Countability now publishes this bounded NEET comparison. It measures a first-quarter average among youth aged fifteen to twenty-nine in the provinces, not continuous year-long exclusion from work or education.
Resolved 5 October 2026: Source-availability assertion corrected by direct qualification of Statistics Canada 37-10-0196-01 (first-quarter NEET averages through 2025). See the starting-work Big Question; remaining scope limits are explicit.
Are youth wages keeping pace with inflation?
What is missing: The earlier source-absence finding was corrected on October 5, 2026. Statistics Canada table 14-10-0064-01 supplies annual median hourly wages by age through 2025; matched annual all-items CPI supplies the deflator.
Consequence: Countability now compares nominal and inflation-adjusted hourly wages of employees aged fifteen to twenty-four and twenty-five to fifty-four. This is a comparison of people in employment, not the wage offers received by all job seekers or a panel following the same workers.
Resolved 5 October 2026: Source-availability assertion corrected by direct qualification of Statistics Canada 14-10-0064-01 (annual wages by age through 2025) with matched all-items CPI. See the starting-work Big Question; remaining scope limits are explicit.
On the record
Temporary EI relief measures expire
Temporary Employment Insurance measures — waiver of the one-week waiting period, suspension of the treatment of monies paid on separation, and an extra 20 weeks of income support for long-tenured workers — were extended by regulation to October 10, 2026. After this date, standard EI rules apply unless further extended.
What would change the record
- Closed for the stated source-availability gap by qualification of table 37-10-0196-01. Current-month conditions and spell duration require different evidence.
- Timely official cohort evidence on graduate employment, underemployment and field-of-study match, with comparable coverage and stated exclusions.
- Closed for the stated source-availability gap by qualification of table 14-10-0064-01 and the matched annual CPI. Composition and entry-level hiring remain separate questions.
- A Job Vacancy and Wage Survey breakdown by required experience level, or a comparable official entry-level vacancy series.
- A continuous, complete, single-series official count of positive LMIAs or approved TFW positions.
- Temporary EI relief measures expire — 2026-10-10.
- The Beveridge curve — reviewed by 2027-07-09.
- A published government measurement methodology for the AI-jobs target, or an official statistical series attributing employment change to AI adoption.
Investigation
Is Canada's labour market weakening?
Employment rose over the year but fell in the latest month. Youth unemployment remained well above the prime-age rate; entry-level hiring outcomes remain unresolved.
This page brings together the evidence, institutional disagreements and gaps behind a continuing question. Where the record supports an answer, it appears with its date, sources, limits, Brief and Receipt. New evidence can change that answer.
This page holds the current public record for this question. For a more specific question, see Work with Countability.
Work with Countability