Horizontal Evaluation of the Youth Employment Strategy - Career Focus Stream

About Career Focus

Career Focus provided funding for employers and organizations to design and deliver a range of activities that enable youth to make more informed career decisions and develop their skills. In particular, Career Focus aimed to:

• increase the supply of highly qualified people
• facilitate the transition of highly skilled young people to a rapidly evolving labour market
• promote the benefits of advanced studies
• demonstrate federal leadership by investing in the skills required to meet the needs of the knowledge economy

The main activity, under Career Focus, was to provide Career-related work experiences, through which participants would gain employment experience and skills related to their field of study or career goal. This was generally achieved via ‘wage subsidies’ to selected employers or organizations.

The Career Focus stream involved eight federal departments and agencies, who each delivered different initiatives (see Table 1 for more detailed information):

• Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC)
• National Research Council of Canada (NRCC)
• Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISEDC)
• Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC)
• Global Affairs Canada (GAC)
• Natural Resources Canada (NRCan)
• Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC)
• Canadian Heritage (PCH)

For the period 2013 to 2018, the bulk of the funding for Career Focus was allocated to the following four (4) participating federal organizations:

• About 86% of the funding envelope was allocated amongst ESDC (43%), NRCC (22%), ISEDC (12%) and ECCC (9%).
• Commensurate with the funding allocation, about 88% of all participants received support from ESDC (35%), NRCC (25%), ISEDC (18%), and ECCC (10%).

From 2013 to 2018, about 25,500 youth took part in a Career Focus intervention, translating in an average cost of about $15,350 per participant.

• As shown in Figures 1 and 2 , the number of participants in Career Focus interventions - and associated actual amount spent - generally increased between 2013 to 2018.
• For instance, the total number of youth increased from 3,707 in 2013 to 2014 to 6,290 in 2017 to 2018, with a commensurate increase in actual spending from $53M to $93M over the same period.
• The average cost per participant remained roughly the same over this period and stood at about $14,300 in 2013 to 2014 and $14,800 in 2017 to 2018.
• Despite the observed increase in total spending, actual spending tended to be consistently lower than planned spending (with the exemption of 2017 to 2018) over this period.
• This reflected, in part, the reallocation of federal funding between Skills Link and Career Focus and other factors such as delays in launching the calls for proposals.

Text description of Figure 1

Department	2013 to 2014	2014 to 2015	2015 to2016	2016 to 2017	2017 to 2018
ESDC	1550	1196	1785	2532	1821
Other departments	2157	2944	2997	4039	4469

• Sources: TBS Horizontal Initiatives Database and ESDC Data Collection System.

Text description of Figure 2

Total spending and cost per participant	2013 to 2014	2014 to 2015	2015 to 2016	2016 to 2017	2017 to 2018
total actual spending (in $ millions)	$M 53	$M 64	$M 82	$M 99	$M 93
average cost per participant (in $)	$14,260	$15,390	$17,130	$15,060	$14,860

• Source: TBS Horizontal Initiatives Database and ESDC Data Collection System.

In most organizations, the majority of participants were women and most were 25 years old and older.

• Generally, the distribution of Career Focus’ participants across gender was roughly in line with the portrait of post-secondary graduates in Canada (see Figure 3).

• Among recent post-secondary graduates, a larger share were women (Statistics Canada, 2013)

• Notably, for the National Research Council of Canada, the Youth Employment program consisted predominantly of men (66%). This most likely reflects the relatively higher proportion of men graduating from engineering, mathematics and computer science programs (Statistics Canada, 2013)
• On the other hand, for Global Affairs Canada, the International Youth Internship program consisted predominantly of women (78%). This most likely reflects the relatively higher proportion of women graduating from humanities-related programs (Statistics Canada, 2013)
• Generally, Career Focus participants were 25 years old and older, with no or a very small number of participants aged between 15 and 19 years old

• Still, about 14% of participants in the Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada and 5% of participants in the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada interventions were younger than 20 years old

Text description of Figure 3

Gender	ESDC*	NRCC	ISED	ECCC	GAC	NRCan	AAFC
Male	43%	66%	51%	48%	22%	46%	40%
Female	56%	31%	47%	51%	78%	53%	57%
Age
15 to 19	3%	2%	14%	0%	0%	0%	5%
20 to 24	43%	47%	44%	35%	37%	38%	41%
25 to 29	48%	44%	36%	55%	54%	54%	46%
30 and over	6%	6%	6%	9%	9%	8%	8%

• Source: TBS Horizontal Initiatives Database; ESDC Data Collection System and Common System for Grants and Contributions. Similar data for Canadian Heritage was not available.
• * For ESDC, data is for the period from January 2010 to December 2011.
• Note: Figures for gender may not add to 100%, due to the small shares of participants who did not specify their gender.

While underrepresented groups were not generally targeted by Career Focus, some interventions were more successful in reaching them.

• Interventions delivered under the Career Focus stream generally did not specifically aim to reach underrepresented groups
• Still, interventions delivered by NRCan in the area of natural resources, ISEDC in the area of computer science and technology, AAFC in the area of agriculture and by ESDC reached relatively higher shares of Indigenous People (see Figure 4)
• Similarly, interventions delivered by GAC in the area of international development, ISEDC in the area of computer science and technology and NRCC reached relatively higher shares of visible minorities
• Lastly, ISEDC interventions reached a relatively higher share of youth with disability

Text description of Figure 4

underepresented group	ESDC*	NRCC	ISED	ECCC	GAC	NRCan	AAFC
indigenous	5%	1%	8%	2%	1%	5%	10%
Visible minority	12%	19%	20%	17%	25%	15%	7%
Person with a disability	1%	1%	5%	2%	1%	2%	1%

• Source: TBS Horizontal Initiatives Database and ESDC Data Collection System.
• Notes: Data is for participants who self-identified; Data for Canadian Heritage was not available over the reference period.
• * For ESDC, data is for the period from January 2010 to December 2011.

ESDC’s Career Focus eligibility requirements

Career Focus activities were delivered by regional and local organizations responding to calls for proposals. Following an assessment process, funding in the form of contributions was provided directly to employers/organizations or community coordinators.

• A community coordinator is a contribution recipient that receives funding to enter into its own agreements with eligible participants and employers to undertake activities that further the objectives of the Career Focus program

Eligible Career Focus activities include Career-related work experiences, through which participants can gain employment experience and skills related to their field of study or career goals. The duration of the work experience normally varied between six and twelve months. The maximum cost per participant was $20,000.

• Amounts needed to accommodate participants with disabilities would be in addition to the $20,000 maximum

Profile of Career Focus participants – ESDC cohorts 2010 and 2011

Between January 2010 and December 2011, about 2,745 youth took part in an ESDC Career Focus intervention . As shown in Figure 5 , among participants:

• close to 3 out of 5 participants were women (56%)
• most participants were between the age of 25 and 30 (54%)

Relative to the Canadian youth population at-large, a relatively lower proportion of participants self-identified as a visible minority or a person with a disability, while the share of participants who self-identified as an Indigenous person was roughly comparable.

• 5% of participants self-identified as Indigenous relative to about 6% for the Canadian youth at large in 2016 (Census 2016)
• 12% of participants self-identified as a visible minority relative to about 27% of the Canadian youth-at-large (Statistics Canada, 2019)
• 1% of participants self-identified as having a disability relative to about 13% for the Canadian youth at large (Statistics Canada, 2019). Results from the 2017 Canadian Survey on Disability are used rather than those from the 2012 Survey, since they include persons with cognitive and mental health related disabilities (Statistics Canada, 2018)

Lastly, about 9 out of 10 participants had completed their post-secondary degree (90%) and about 8 out of 10 were single.

Text description of Figure 5

gender	Percentage of participants
Male	44%
Female	56%
Age	Percentage of participants
15 to 19	3%
20 to 24	44%
25 to 30	54%
Auto-identification	Percentage of participants
Visible minority	12%
Indigenous	5%
Persons with disability	1%
Location	Percentage of participants
Urban	86%
Marital status	Percentage of participants
Single	79%
Education	Percentage of participants
Postsecondary complete	90%

• Source: ESDC Common System for Grants and Contributions.
• Note: Participants may belong to more than one category. Whether a participant lived in a rural or urban area is determined based on the first three digits of their postal code.

Career Focus participants across Canada

Geographically, the distribution of participants by province was roughly in line with the distribution of the Canadian youth across the country (see Table 2 ).

A majority of participants lived in Ontario and Quebec – with the smallest shares living in the
Atlantic regions and the North.

• Along an urban-rural dimension, 86% of participants lived in urban communities while 14% came from rural communities. This distribution is also roughly in line with the distribution of the Canadian youth living in rural communities across the country. (see Figure 5 )

Most participating organizations/employers were in the not-for-profit sector and the majority had fewer than 10 employees

Between January 2010 and December 2011, 369 projects were funded by ESDC. Based on the information available on the organizations/employers who received funding, most organizations/employers were from the not-for-profit organizations (see Figure 6 ).

• Not-for-profit organizations included local communities, charitable, voluntary and provincial non-governmental organizations (NGOs)

Text description of Figure 6

Sector	Share of organizations
Not-for-profit	63%
Private	27%
Public	9%

As shown in Figure 7 most organizations/employers who received funding were small or of medium size, with:

• about 52% having fewer than 10 employees
• 24% with 11 to 50 employees

Only 7% of organizations/employers had 100 employees or more.

Text description of Figure 7

Number of employees	Share of organizations
Fewer than 10	52%
11 to 50	24%
51 to 100	5%
100 and more	7%
Unspecified	12%

• Source: ESDC Common System for Grants and Contributions.
• Note: Totals may not add to 100% due to rounding.

Main finding #1: Immediate outcomes

Immediately after the completion of their respective interventions, a larger share of participants was still employed as opposed to having returned to school

In line with the objective of the program, after the completion of their intervention, the share of participants who were still employed was larger than the share of participants who went back to school, as shown in Figure 9 .

Text description of Figure 8

Immediate outcomes	ESDC*	NRCC*	ISED	ECCC	GAC**	NRCan	AAFC*	PCH
Employed/self-employed	70%	82%	20%	49%	17%	56%	52%	60%
Return to school	3%	12%	16%	3%	6%	4%	13%	5%
Unspecified	27%	6%	65%	48%	77%	40%	35%	36%

• Source: TBS Horizontal Initiatives Database; Departmental Performance Reports / Departmental Results Reports; and
• ESDC Data Collection System.
• * Figures were supplied directly by the organization in January 2020.
• ** Results reflect employment status within 2 weeks of the interns’ return to Canada from overseas.

For most organizations, the status of a relatively large share of participants - immediately after the completion of a Career Focus intervention - was not specified. As a result, it is not possible to assess with certainty whether the desired immediate outcomes of Career Focus interventions were reached.

• For certain departments, information presented in year-end reports was not complete. In particular, year-end reports were generally limited to those participants who had completed their intervention during the fiscal year and responded to the exit survey prior to the publication of their reports.

Outcomes observed immediately after the completion of an intervention were generally in line with the participants’ level of education and whether they had graduated or not. For example:

• a relatively larger share of participants in interventions delivered by NRCC, ISEDC, and AAFC went back to school after the completion of their intervention. These results are consistent with the relatively larger share of their participants not having completed post-secondary studies (see Figure 10 )
• on the other hand, in organizations with interventions mainly consisting of participants who had completed their post-secondary studies, the share of participants going back to school was small (for example, ESDC, ECCC, GAC and NRCan)

Text description of Figure 9

Level of education	ESDC	NRCC	ISED	ECCC	GAC	NRCan	AAFC
Secondary imcomplete	2%	0%	7%	0%	0%	0%	4%
Secondary complete	2%	4%	10%	0%	0%	0%	4%
Postsecondary incomplete	3%	33%	55%	16%	8%	15%	28%
Postsecondary complete	90%	63%	27%	83%	91%	85%	64%
Unspecified	3%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%

• Source: TBS Horizontal Initiatives Database; Departmental Performance Reports / Departmental Results Reports; and
• ESDC Data Collection System.
• * Data for Canadian Heritage was not available.

Main finding #2: Incremental Impact Analysis (ESDC participants)

Main finding #3: Cost-benefit analysis

Participants to ESDC Career Focus Intervention

The total social benefit (government + participant) is $46,293, yielding an average annual social rate of return of 18% over 11 years (1 year in-program, 10 years post-participation consisting of 5 years observed and 5 years projected).

• For participants, the total net benefit is $42,272
• For governments, the total net benefit is $4,021

Text description of Figure 10

The total social benefit (government + participant) is $46,293, yielding an average annual social rate of return of 18% over 11 years (1-year in-program, 10 years post-participation consisting of 5 years observed and 5 years projected). For participants, the total net benefit is $42,272 and the total net benefit is $4,021 for the government.

• Source: Administrative Data - Labour Market Program Data Platform cohorts of Career Focus participants from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2011.
• 1. Cost includes the program direct cost per participant (estimated at $8,528) plus the marginal cost of public funds (estimated at $1,706; in other words 20% of the program direct cost per participant).
• 2. The social rate of return (543%) is the net benefit to the society ($46,293) divided by the program direct cost per participant. The annual average social rate of return of 18% per year is equal to 5.43 (543%) plus 1, raised to the power of 1 and divided by the number of years covered by the cost-benefit analysis (that is,, 11 years).
• 3. Fringe benefit is defined as a proportion of compensation given to employees in addition to wages which approximately represents 15% of the employment earnings.

Annex A: Bibliography

Data sources: Employment and Social Development Canada. Administrative data known as the Common System for Grants.

Internal Sources : Technical Studies (not published, available on demand)

• ESDC (June 2019). Net Impact Results of the Youth Employment Strategy. Evaluation Directorate
• ESDC (June 2019). Cost-Benefit Analysis for the Youth Employment Strategy. Evaluation Directorate

External sources:

• Canadian Institute for Health Information (2015). Trends in Income-Related Health Inequalities in Canada. Technical Report
• Employment and Social Development Canada (June 2015) Youth Employment Strategy Skills Link.
• Employment and Social Development Canada Departmental performance report.
• Gebel, M., & Vossemer, J. (2014) The impact of employment transitions on health in Germany: a difference-in-differences propensity score matching approach. Social Science and Medicine, 108, 128–136
• Heckman, J., Ichimura, H., & Todd, P. (1997). Matching As An Econometric Evaluation Estimator: Evidence from Evaluating a Job Training Programme. Review of Economic Studies, 64(4), 605-654. doi: 10.2307/2971733
• Human Resources and Social Development Canada. 2008-09 Departmental Performance Report.
• Lechner, M., & Wunsch, C. (2013). Sensitivity of matching-based program evaluations to the availability of control variables. Labour Economics, 21, 111-121
• Machin S. and C. Meghir (2000). Crime and Economic Incentives. The Institute for Fiscal Studies. Working Paper 00/17
• Nilsson A. and J. Agell (2003). Crime, unemployment and labor market programs in turbulent times. Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation (IFAU). Working Paper 2003:14

External sources:

• Saunders, M; Barr, B; McHale, P; Hamelmann, C. (2017). Key policies for addressing the social determinants of health and health inequities. Health Evidence Network Synthesis Report 52. Regional Office for Europe. World Health Organization
• Statistics Canada (2018). Canadian Survey on Disability, the evolution of disability data in Canada: Keeping in step with a more inclusive Canada
• Statistics Canada (2019). A Portrait of Canadian Youth
• Statistics Canada (2013). Gender differences in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and computer science (STEM) programs at university
• Stuart, E.A., Huskamp, H.A., Duckworth, K., Simmons, J., Song, Z., Chernew, M., & Barry, C.L. (2014). Using propensity scores in difference-in-differences models to estimate the effects of a policy change. Health Services Outcomes Research Methodology, 14(4), 166–182. doi: 10.1007/s10742-014-0123-z

Annex B: Evaluation approach

Annex C: Description of Career Focus Interventions

Career Focus activities are designed to:

• enable youth to acquire and enhance skills, which include but are not limited to employability skills and advanced employability skills
• provide work experiences, mentoring and coaching
• support youth entrepreneurs to gain self-employment
• help youth obtain skills acquired while participating in exchanges between post-secondary institutions, including higher education institutions in other countries where reciprocal exchange of people, knowledge and expertise will occur
• support youth in making informed career decisions, promote the value of education, and promote youth as the labour force of the future
• support research and innovative projects to identify better ways of helping youth prepare for, return to, and keep employment and to be productive participants in the labour force

Of the three YES streams, Career Focus has the largest number (7) of federal departments or agencies involved in its delivery apart from ESDC:

• Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
• Canadian Heritage
• Environment and Climate Change Canada
• Global Affairs Canada
• Innovation Science and Economic Development Canada
• National Research Council Canada
• Natural Resources Canada

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada: the Career Focus Program (CFP) is intended to create approximately 50 agricultural internships annually for recent post-secondary graduates across the country. Applications are received from employers who can offer meaningful agriculture career-oriented work experience and skills acquisition through mentoring and coaching to interns. Internships must be between 4 and 12 months in length and must last long enough to give the employee significant work experience.

To be eligible as an intern, an individual must be a Canadian citizen or landed immigrant between the ages of 15 and 30; be unemployed or under-employed; and have graduated in the last three years from an agriculture-related program in a university, college, CEGEP or a provincial program focusing on biological, agricultural and veterinary science or applied technology.

Canadian Heritage: there are two program components within the Career Focus Stream - Young Canada Works at Building Careers in English and French (YCW-BCEF), and Young Canada Works at Building Careers in Heritage (YCW-BCH).

YCW-BCEF aims to provide unemployed or under-employed college or university graduates under 30 years old with international internships to help them develop their knowledge of French and English while acquiring and developing skills in key areas of the global labour market and language-based industries involving Canada’s official languages. It is delivered by one national non-for-profit youth organization.

YCW-BCH supports internships in heritage fields and arts administration and practice for unemployed or under-employed college and university graduates aged 30 years and under. The program aims at increasing the interns’ professional skills and practical experience in career-oriented jobs both in Canada and abroad; at helping them make the transition to heritage and arts-oriented trades and professions, as well as earn money for additional studies. It is delivered nationally by 6 professional service organizations, each specializing in one sector of the Canadian not-for-profit heritage community (museums, archives, libraries, heritage sites, and arts organizations).

Environment and Climate Change Canada: the Science Horizons Youth Internship program began in 1997, with the original launch of the Youth Employment Strategy. The program objective is to create opportunities for youth in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields by providing them with hands-on experience with potential employers.

Global Affairs Canada: developed in 1997, the International Youth Internship Program (IYIP) was designed to offer young Canadians, between the ages of 19 and 30, the opportunity to gain professional experience through international development work. To be eligible, interns must be a post-secondary graduate, graduate of a degree or diploma program in a university, college, post-secondary school of technology, post-secondary institute or a CEGEP, out of school, or unemployed or underemployed.

The IYIP contributes to Canada’s Youth Employment Strategy by providing a large spectrum of Canadian graduates with a valuable international development work experience. IYIP supports internships that are designed and implemented in consultation with both Canadian and developing country organizations. The internships carry out sustainable development efforts that meet locally defined needs in Global Affairs Canada’s sectors of focus and aim to provide and share valuable knowledge and skills in order to ensure sustainability.

Innovation Science and Economic Development Canada: The Technical Work Experience Program (TWEP) is a companion program to the Computer For Schools program (a national, partnership-based program that refurbishes surplus computers – from federal departments, provincial-territorial governments and the private sector – for use by the program’s beneficiaries), and supports youth interns working in refurbishment centres across the country. As part of the Youth Employment Strategy, TWEP helps bridge youth into the workplace and provides much-needed technical skills training. Candidates are engaged in the refurbishment process, and develop skills in computer repair and software testing while cultivating softer skills such as time management and team building.

The Youth Internships Program (YIP) was a national initiative funded through the YES. It was intended to provide Canadian youth with work experience and digital skills to help end the cycle of no experience/ no work, to encourage the development of digital skills in youth and to encourage not-for-profit groups across Canada to develop and use digital technologies in their organizations. The overall objective of YIP was to provide Canadian youth with experience and capabilities related to the use of digital technologies, thereby making them more productive and competitive in a digital and knowledge-based economy and more successful in the job market. YIP was sunset at the end of Fiscal Year 2016 to 2017.

National Research Council of Canada: The Youth Employment Program, launched in 1997, provides financial assistance to innovative small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) in Canada to hire post-secondary science, engineering, technology, business and liberal arts graduates. SMEs benefit from skills and knowledge of graduates while providing them with a valuable work experience that will open doors to the future. Graduates work on innovative projects within the SME environment and may participate in research, development and commercialization of technologies.

In some cases, SMEs may be collaborating with the National Research Council of Canada institute or with Innovation, Science and Economic Development’s Communications Research Centre. In addition to meeting the needs of innovative SMEs, this program facilitates the transition of highly skilled young people to a rapidly changing labour market. To qualify, SMEs must be incorporated and for-profit, ready to enhance their innovation capacity, and willing to establish a trusting relationship with the National Research Council of Canada.

Natural Resources Canada: The Science and Technology Internship Program (STIP) provides funding to organizations within the natural resources sectors that hire recent graduates in natural sciences. It helps organizations to develop Canada’s knowledge economy and increase the pool of versatile and highly qualified youth who will be tomorrow’s leaders in research and development (R&D). Since 1997, Natural Resources Canada has helped support some 600 internships. Annually, STIP creates some 50 to 80 internships that benefit both organizations and recent graduates in natural sciences.

Annex D: Key findings from previous evaluations

2009 Summative evaluation

Participants expressed high levels of satisfaction with the opportunities for skill development offered by Career Focus. Employers also concurred with participants that the program assisted considerably in enhancing important employability skills.

2015 Summative evaluation

Over half of Career Focus survey respondents (59%) identified their decision to return to school as being influenced by their participation in the program.

When compared to participants from the limited treatment group, results from the incremental impact analysis indicated that Career Focus participants experienced significantly higher cumulative employment earnings over the six year period.