Simerdeep Dhaliwal looked for a summer co-op placement in his field for a long time before he finally found a spot.
The 20 year old Algonquin College information and technology student says he was lucky in another some aspect of his overall job search, such as finding a part-time job at a MacEwen gas station fairly quickly. But with the co-op placement, it wasn’t nearly as easy.
“It was honestly really discouraging at first. It was really tough. I wasn’t really getting any responses back,” Dhaliwal said.
Dhaliwal is not alone. Many young adults are struggling to find any kind of job, even a co-op placement, according to a Capital Current analysis of data Statistics Canada uses to track unemployment.
Data from this past February found that 15.5 per cent of people between 15 and 24 in Ontario are unemployed. This is about 195,400 people and is an increase of nearly three per cent from 12.8 per cent in February 2017.
Ismail Beremad, a digital account manager at TEKSystems, a business management consulting company says he believes there are lingering effects from the pandemic reflected in today’s job market.
“It sounds crazy, but [COVID-19], I think … has [had] a huge ripple effect that has continued,” Beremad, who helps businesses with staffing transformations among other duties, said.
He believes the sluggish economy is a critical underlying factor.
The average number of monthly active businesses has been on an upwards trajectory since 2015. This is according to StatsCan’s monthly estimates of business openings and closures for December 2024, published on March 3, 2025. However, ever since the pandemic, the rates have dropped, with only a 0.01 per cent growth rate in 2024.
The slowing growth of these businesses means the number of new job openings decreases as well, leaving young people concerned about their future. The job vacancy rate in December 2024 was 3.1 per cent, a decrease of 0.7 percentage points on its year over year basis.
For Dhaliwal, his current co-op, a digital solution technician at the Department of National Defence, is full time, with two days virtual. He plans to continue working a couple shifts a week at the gas station to make sure he’s employed after his internship ends.
Pooja Singh is an employment specialist at Advantage Personnel, an employment agency that focuses on finding hires for temporary or contract placements. Singh, who works in the company’s Ottawa location, says some clients are still dealing with the effects of COVID, specifically with their ability to hire.
“Just shutting down your business for three years, it really impacted them bad,” said Singh.
Industries that were hit significantly, like the automobile sector and general labour, are slowly bouncing back, Singh said.
Beremad said that as the economy has struggled, hiring has slowed in service industries, including restaurants and hotels, which are traditional sources of jobs for young adults, especially students. This is happening despite labour shortages in the service sector.
Dhaliwal is familiar with the food industry, having worked his first job at McDonald’s before MacEwen two years ago. He got a referral from a family friend to make the hiring process easier.
“I’m not sure how long it would have taken if I didn’t get referred.”
“I think it’s really hard to get a job because everyone’s trying [at the same time]. It’s hard to find openings,” Dhaliwal said. With the high cost of living, individuals might also be looking for more than one job, increasing difficulty to find a single position.
Beremad said just living is even more expensive now than it was 10 years ago, when talking about his own experience holding multiple jobs to be able to afford the student lifestyle.
Pollara Strategic Insights, a market research firm in Toronto, found in its Economic Outlook 2025 that of the 1,506 Canadians, 18 to 65+ who participated, 40 per cent expect to fall behind financially this year, the lowest level in four years.
According to its data, 41 per cent of young Canadians between the ages of 18 and 34 said housing expenses cause the most stress. The average one bedroom apartment in Ontario costs about $2,118, according to Rentals.ca.
In total, it took Dhaliwal over a year to land his current co-op position.
His advice for anyone looking for a job is to use any and all available resources. For him, this included taking a course at his college to improve his resume and cover letters, as well as asking his more experienced peers for advice.
