There is no doubt that the job market is undergoing profound changes. Young people often find themselves on the front lines of these socio-economic upheavals which will have lasting and profound repercussions on their reality.
By Félix Cauchy-Charest, CSQ advisor
During the last Youth Network of the Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ), on May 4, Maria Eugenia Longo, co-holder of the Quebec Youth Research Network Chair, and Mircea Vultur, professor at the University of Quebec in Rimouski and researcher at the National Institute of Scientific Research (INRS), presented a conference on the dynamics of youth employment in Quebec. Shed light on the challenges and opportunities that will mark the future of young people.
Fewer, less well paid
A statistic caused a reaction: the young population (15-34 years) of Quebec has decreased, from 35.3% in 1986 to only 23% in 2021. At the same time, cultural diversity is increasing, with a strong representation of immigrants in this area. age range. The latter are also much more numerous (42%) than the native population (23%) to hold a university degree.
Although the youth activity and employment rate has increased since 1976, reaching 80.9% and 76.2% respectively in 2023, young people remain concentrated in lower-paid jobs. In 2023, 56% of young people aged 15 to 34 earned less than $25 per hour.
Young people who are highly educated, but poorly employed
Young Quebecers are increasingly educated, with a notable increase in university graduates since 2001, particularly among young women, who went from 37% of them holding a doctorate in 2001 to 56% in 2021! Despite this, integration into the labor market remains a challenge, particularly accentuated by the effects of the pandemic, which saw a dramatic drop in youth employment in 2020.
The labor shortage in Quebec reflects a mismatch between the skills of young people and the needs of the market. Despite an increasingly qualified young population, more than half of vacancies require a low level of education. It is also young people with less education (with and without a secondary school diploma) who have experienced the largest relative increase in the employment rate.
Another element which illustrates the situation: from 2016, we observe a more marked increase in the employment rate for young people aged 15 to 19 (from 42.1% in 2016 to 54.2% in 2023) compared to others. age groups whose employment rate has remained rather stable.
The labor shortage is not the fault of young people
Despite the increase in the employment rate (of young people and in general), the number and rate of vacant positions increased in Quebec from 2015 to 2023. One of the problems is that sectors with vacant positions also have the conditions of least attractive work and salaries.
Debt and financial pressures
Youth debt also remains a glaring problem. Many enter adulthood with substantial debt, compromising their ability to invest in the future. In 2016, almost 80% of households headed by young people aged 34 and under were in debt, a figure that has likely increased as the cost of living has risen.
Surprisingly, the main driver of youth debt is not student debt (28.6% of debt), but rather consumer debt (50.6% of debt). Add to this the housing crisis (77% of university students are renters) and we have a dangerous cocktail of bills that are undermining the financial health of our youth.
Change of mentality
The relationship with work of 18-34 year olds is very different from that of their ancestors. Whether it is the importance of work in their lives or the meaning that we get from work, more young people place work and their professional life in last place in their spheres of life, far behind their life. couple and family life.
We are witnessing a vast change in mentality. Young people are strongly seeking balance between professional and private life. They no longer see work as a moral duty and do not accept just any job under any conditions. Employers would benefit from focusing on the quality of their environments (social interactions, autonomy, room for initiative, personal achievement and social utility, among others) to attract and retain them.
Need for an adapted policy
With the growing importance of the digital economy (automation, artificial intelligence, sustainability of jobs, etc.), as well as the emergence of more and more jobs in the social economy or in the green economy, it is necessary, we say researchers, integrate public policies and put in place a more robust regulatory framework to support young workers, particularly through targeted measures that take into account the diversity of backgrounds and the specific needs of 18-34 year olds.
Young people face a rapidly changing job market, where challenges abound, but where there are also opportunities to redefine work standards for a generation in search of meaning and commitment. How we respond to these challenges will determine not only the economic future of young people, but also the overall social dynamics of the decades to come.
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