Students struggling to find summer work with recession fears cooling the job market

Brendan Coulter · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 12, 2025 7:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 9 minutes ago

Some Calgary assemblage students are having a hard clip locking down a regular paycheque for the summer, arsenic they hole to enactment down their textbooks until the autumn semester.

Fewer summertime jobs are showing up connected the University of Calgary's pupil occupation board, and less summertime co-op and internship opportunities are disposable to students, according to the university.

"Students are telling america that it is simply a truly challenging occupation market," said Carllie Necker, manager of vocation and beingness plan astatine the school's Centre for Career and Personal Development.

"Our advisors are seeing students who person truly large applications and fantabulous acquisition and they are not proceeding backmost from employers, whereas typically they would get the accidental to interrogation and showcase their skills."

Alberta's younker unemployment complaint reached 15.1 per cent successful March, up from 14.1 per cent past March, and up from 10.4 per cent successful March 2023. 

Seasonal postings connected the occupation tract Indeed Canada are down astir 5 per cent compared to past year, said Indeed elder economist Brendon Bernard.

Uncertainty created by U.S. President Donald Trump's commercialized argumentation and fears it could bring astir a recession are among the galore factors astatine play, according to Bernard.

"The economical concern is beauteous cloudy looking ahead," helium said. "The summertime occupation is inactive linked to the remainder of the economy. It can't flight what's happening elsewhere."

Friday marked the past time of classes this semester astatine the University of Calgary, and students astatine some the U of C and Mount Royal University are heading into their last exam periods.

But despite extra clip distant from the schoolroom coming up, less students are applying to permission part-time jobs for summertime opportunities successful their fields of study, said Mateusz Salmassi with the University of Calgary Students' Union, noting they're disquieted astir uncovering enactment again successful the fall.

"Many are hanging connected to low-paying, challenging enactment simply due to the fact that they don't expect uncovering thing better," helium said. "And I've spoken to students who've applied to 50 to 100 plus jobs with perfectly nary luck."

Bernard said the percent of young Canadians who've ne'er had a occupation has gone up implicit the past fewer years as the labour marketplace has waned.

"An important facet of the labour marketplace erstwhile it's evolving well is that radical are benignant of moving up the occupation ladder, arsenic you summation much experience," helium said.

"When this benignant of entry-level occupation marketplace seizes up, you get a backlog, benignant of a postulation jam of occupation seekers vying [for] that entry-level role."

A backlog of young, aspiring workers tin person semipermanent antagonistic impacts connected the labour market, according to Bernard.

Students astatine the University of Calgary person entree to appointments with vocation improvement specialists, resume feedback, and vocation assessments for those inactive weighing options, said Necker.

She said the request for vocation improvement sessions is "high," but they tin conscionable it, and they're telling students to enactment optimistic.

"There are inactive summertime opportunities that whitethorn beryllium posted mid-April, close done June. And truthful we truly bash promote students to beryllium persistent," she said.

The University of Calgary Students' Union is asking the provincial authorities to reinstate the Summer Temporary Employment Program.

The programme gave a subsidy to municipalities, tiny businesses and not-for-profits to prosecute students implicit the summertime betwixt May and August until it was eliminated successful 2019. 

"From our constituent of view, you should wage Alberta students to fortify Alberta businesses," said Salmassi. "That's an country the state tin measurement up." 

In a statement, Alberta's Minister of Minister of Jobs, Economy and Trade Matt Jones said reducing younker unemployment is simply a apical precedence and the state is moving hard to marque definite young Albertans tin entree the labour market, including by offering summer pupil positions wrong the Alberta Public Service.

He said Alberta volition proceed exploring and implementing programs that enactment vocation improvement for young people. 

Jones besides pointed retired that the provincial authorities provides scholarships and pupil loans and is investing $6 cardinal implicit 3 years to grow paid work-integrated learning programs for students. 

There are reasons for optimism going forward, according to Bernard. 

He said Canada's propulsion to dilatory the gait of younker migration into Canada, peculiarly non-permanent nonmigratory arrivals, could pb to young radical having an easier clip uncovering work.

In January, Ottawa announced it was tightening the headdress connected planetary students by 10 per cent for 2025.