The unemployment rate among young Canadians aged 15-24 has increased substantially since 2022 and is reaching record highs, particularly given the absence of a recession, finds a new study published Thursday by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank.
“Canada’s youth unemployment is a crisis and will have serious consequences in later years when youths today who are unable to secure work try to find steady employment as adults,” said Philip Cross, a senior fellow with the Fraser Institute and author of The Extraordinary Increase of Youth Unemployment in Canada.
The study finds that youth unemployment in Canada increased from 10 per cent in 2022 to 13.8 per cent in 2025, the largest three-year increase on record when Canada’s economy was not in a recession. Notably, the gap between the unemployment rates for youths (13.8 per cent) and adults (5.7 per cent) in 2025 reached a near all-time high of 8.1 percentage points (ranking second behind the record-high of 9.6 points during the 1982 recession), explained the Fraser Institute.
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Canada’s youth unemployment rate has remained consistently above the youth unemployment rate in the United States since 2015. And in 2025, Canada’s rate of 13.8 per cent was 3.8 percentage points above the U.S. rate (10 per cent), and was the largest gap recorded outside of the COVID pandemic and the 1990s, when the U.S. rate fell below 10 per cent, added the report.
The Fraser Institute said the recent surge in immigration–particularly with respect to low-skill workers–and increases in minimum wages in many provinces are key contributors to the marked rise in youth unemployment, since they have simultaneously increased the supply of low-skilled labourers and decreased the demand for it by increasing costs.
“The extraordinary surge in youth unemployment in Canada is a homegrown problem, and policymakers in Ottawa and in provincial legislatures should review the policies that are making it worse,” Cross said.
Mario Toneguzzi
Mario Toneguzzi is Managing Editor of Canada’s Entrepreneur. He has more than 40 years of experience as a daily newspaper writer, columnist, and editor. He was named in 2021 and 2024 as one of the top business journalists in the world by PR News. He was also named by RETHINK to its global list of Top Retail Experts 2024, 2025 and 2026.
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