The Youth Employment and Skills Strategy
The Youth Employment and Skills Strategy is a Government of Canada initiative delivered by various federal departments, agencies, and Crown corporations. The Strategy supports diverse youth (aged 15 to 30) to become job-ready. It provides youth, including those who face barriers to employment, with work experience, training, skills development and wraparound supports that allow them to successfully transition into diverse sectors of the labour market. Through its wide range of programs, the Strategy invests in young people to build a strong Canadian economy while supporting those who may struggle to get ahead.
Youth Employment and Skills Strategy – Employment and Social Development Canada
At Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), the Youth Employment and Skills Strategy consists of 2 programs:
ESDC's Youth Employment and Skills Strategy Program (YESS Program)
The YESS provides funding to organizations to deliver a range of activities that help youth (aged 15 to 30) overcome barriers to employment. The YESS Program supports a flexible approach that offers services tailored to each individual youth to gain the skills and experience that they need to find and keep good quality jobs. Services can include mentorship, wrap-around services (for example, dependent care support, mental health counselling), skills training and paid work experiences.
The YESS program also encourages collaborations and innovation to increase capacity across the youth service provider network (for example, employers, service delivery organizations and educational institutions), to better support youth, and to help employers hire and retain youth, in particular those who face barriers to employment.
Canada Summer Jobs (CSJ)
CSJ provides wage subsidies to employers from not-for-profit organizations, the public sector, and the private sector organizations with 50 or fewer full-time employees to create quality work experiences for youth. These employers provide quality summer work opportunities for young Canadians aged 15 to 30 to help them develop and improve their skills.
The YESS Program and CSJ support youth facing barriers to employment, which can include:
- Indigenous youth
- Black youth
- racialized youth
- 2SLGBTQI+ youth
- youth with disabilities
- youth living in rural, remote, Northern or fly-in communities
- youth in an official language minority community
For these youth, barriers often intersect making them more likely to be among those involuntarily not in employment, education, or training (NEET).
Services
Contact
Youth Employment and Skills Strategy
140 Promenade du Portage
Phase IV, 4th Floor
Gatineau, QC K1A 0J9
Telephone: 1-800-935-5555
TTY: 1-800-926-9105