The Progress of Canada's Children 2001 - related material

March 2001

Still Struggling: An Update on Teenagers at Work

by Andrew Jackson and Sylvain Schetagne

Teens at Work: A Key Transition

In 1998, the CCSD published Youth at Work, an extended study of the labour market experiences of teenagers (15-19 years old) in the early 1990's. This study found that the proportion of youth who work at least one week a year rises steadily between ages 15 and 19, from about 1 in 4 teenagers to about 3 in 4 in 1996. However, it was also shown that the employment rate, the proportion of teens that are employed, fell sharply from 1989 to 1997, with the lack of jobs in the recession and recovery sharply limiting opportunities for teenagers to find work. Employment rates were typically lower for teens from lower income and immigrant families and (unsurprisingly) high unemployment regions and communities.

Entry into the labour force in these years - usually through part-time and/or summer jobs - represents a key transition from childhood to adulthood. Employment for less than 15-20 hours per week does not impede school performance, and indeed a modest level of paid work is associated with better school performance and a lower drop-out rate. Working is positively associated with broader social participation.

This short study updates some of our earlier findings on employment trends, and reflects on their implications for the well-being of young people.

Recent Job Trends for Teens

We use data from Statistics Canada's Labour Force Survey to look at some key elements of the labour force experiences of teenagers (age 15-19) from 1989 (the peak year of youth employment before the recession), through 1997 (the trough year for youth employment) and 1999.

Employment Rates Remain Low

Table 1 provides data on the Teen Employment Rate for each of these years, with information provided for boys and girls, for employment in summer jobs, and for employment during the school year (December.)

The key finding is that there has been an improvement from 1997, but that teen employment rates in 1999 remained well below 1989 levels. Overall, the employment rate in 1999 was 41.1% in 1989, up modestly from the low of 37.1% in 1997, but less than half way back to the 51.6% rate in 1989.

Very recent data show that 33.3% of 15- 16 year olds and 60.3% of 17-19 year olds found summer jobs in 2000, up 2.6 percentage points and 1.8 percentage points respectively from 1999.(Labour Force Survey data from The Daily, September 8, 2000). This suggests some continuing overall improvement in the employment situation of teens.

Emerging Employment Differences Between Boys and Girls

Interestingly, there is a modest emerging difference between the experiences of boys and girls. In 1999, a slightly higher proportion of girls than boys were employed, reversing the employment advantage of boys in 1989. Girls are more likely to hold jobs during the school year than boys (36.3% vs. 32.3% in 1999) and are now only slightly less likely to find a summer job (49.3% vs. 49.8%). The 4.3 percentage point difference between the proportion of boys and girls holding summer jobs in 1989 has been virtually eliminated.

Provincial Experiences Vary

Data on teen employment rates by province are presented in Table 2. Of note are the very sharp declines in the teen employment rates between 1989 and 1999 in Ontario and BC, compared to the relative stability of rates in Atlantic Canada and the Prairie Provinces. The Quebec experience was about average. These differences may partly reflect changes in social assistance programs which result in more competition for 'entry-level' jobs, as discussed below.

Teen Unemployment Rates

Young people - like adults - are counted as unemployed if they are not working, but are actively seeking work. The trend is the same as the employment rate. As shown in Table 3, the teen unemployment rate in 1999 was 18.2%, well up from the "low" of 12.7% in 1989 but modestly down from 21.2% in 1997. The unemployment rate gap between boys and girls - with a higher rate among boys - has closed slightly, in line with the employment trend favouring girls.

As can be seen in Table 4, the difference in unemployment rates between teens and adults (25+) has increased over time. While the teen unemployment rate was 1.9 times the adult unemployment rate at the end of the 1980's, it was 2.9 times the adult unemployment rate in 1999.

While the unemployment rate among full-time students is still well above the 1989 level, that for non students has actually fallen below the 1989 level (16.7% vs. 17.6%.) However, this does not mean that the overall employment situation of teens outside school has improved.

Teenagers Not in School

Table 5 provides data on teenagers not in school. In December, 1999, 15.3% of teens were not in school (310,000 teens in total), down from 20.7% (391,000) in December, 1989.

Of the teens not in school in December, 1999, 67.2% were employed, down only slightly from 69.3% in December, 1989. However, the ratio of full-timers to part-timers among this group was 3:1 in 1999 compared to 5:1 in 1989.

In December, 1999, 60,000 teenagers were neither in school, nor working. The numbers and percentage distribution between boys and girls among this very high risk group was virtually unchanged from December, 1989.

Implications: Lagging Behind at Work But Winning at School?

The employment trend for teens is at sharp variance with that for adults. For 'core age' workers aged 25-54, the recovery began in 1993, and by 1999 the employment rate had risen slightly above the 1989 level. For young adults - 20-24 year olds - the recovery began at the same time, but has been very slow and tentative, leaving the employment rate in 1999 more than 5 percentage points below the 1989 level (73.6% compared to 68.1%.) For teens, the recovery began later, in 1997, and has left the employment rate more than 10 percentage points below the 1989 level.

There are two possible lines of explanation for the difference in trends in the 1990s between core age workers, young adults and teens: teens are having a harder time finding jobs, or teens have changed the way in which they relate to the job market. Both are true to some degree.

For the most part, young workers, particularly teens, are students seeking part-time and/or summer jobs which allow them to combine school and work. The jobs they want and expect to hold are mainly relatively low pay, low skilled, 'entry level' jobs. Such jobs are important in providing some work experience, and additional income which may help finance staying in school.

A key problem for teens, and young adults to a lesser degree, was that the recession combined with cuts to Employment Insurance forced many middle-aged and older workers with more skills and experience to accept these kinds of jobs, effectively shutting many teens and young adults who wanted to work out of the job market. Even after the recovery began, teens were still stuck behind 20 -24 year olds in the job queue.

It is possible that welfare 'reform' in various provinces, including making young adults ineligible for benefits, also heightened competition for relatively low wage jobs.

Put simply, lacking job skills and experience, teens have lost out and are still losing out to a considerable extent when competing for jobs. This also explains why teens who have dropped out of school are having much greater difficulty finding full-time jobs than even a decade ago.

The second strand of the story is that more teens are staying in school because they know that education is needed to get a good job. Even teens who consider dropping out will tend to stay in school because they see few good immediate job prospects. Full-time students are somewhat less likely to seek jobs than non students, accounting for part of the fall in the employment rate.

Fom the point of view of the future prospects of youth , the fall in the teen employment rate in the 1990s and its failure to recover is largely bad news. The great majority of teens appear to benefit from part-time and summer work. The continued high unemployment rate of teens in school means that they are missing out on job experience, and the extra income that many families need.

It does have to be recognised that working too many hours during the school year has negative effects on performance at school. Further, it is possible that a major increase in the availability of jobs for teens could increase the dropout rate, and lock some young people into 'dead end' low pay, low skill career paths. There is no doubt that failure to acquire a good education today has much more serious consequences than it did even a decade ago given the steadily rising skill requirements of good jobs. Some would conclude that 'bad news' on the teen job front is really a good news story in the long-run.

However, given the sharp increase in the costs of post secondary education, more jobs for teens could help increase accessibility to post secondary education. Teens who work have the ability to save some money as teens and, perhaps most importantly, gain skills which could help them get better jobs as post secondary students. Further, whether graduating from high school, college or university, young people who have a combination of education and job skills are likely to find better jobs.

On balance, teens would be better off if jobs were easier to find, and they could make their own choices.

Progress of Canada's Children 2001 - Related Material

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