Youth Unemployment

The issue of quantity versus price adjustments is now familiar in economics. In our original paper, we focussed on the adjustments in the Canadian labour market resulting from the influx of the baby-boom generation over the 1960s and 1970s. In our view, the increasing numbers of young entrants contributed to increased youth unemployment rates, especially over the 1970s when the bulk of the baby-boom generation entered the labour market. However, by the early 1980s the trend was reversed as a result of smaller cohorts entering the labour market. The severity of the 1982-83 recession in Canada masked these demographic effects and increased youth unemployment rates through 1983 resulting in a bevy of policy initiatives. Nonetheless over this period the relative employment position of the youth in the labour market continued to improve. For example, the relative youth unemployment rate fell consistently through the 1980s, from 76 per cent above the Canadian average in 1981 to 57 per cent above by 1985. Consequently, the policy initiatives were destined to appear successful, since the underlying demographic trends were for considerable improvements in youth unemployment rates. These have, in fact, occurred. Labour force data for 1986 lend further confirmation to the

Economics · Macroeconomics · Unemployment · Youth unemployment · Labor market dynamics and wage inequality · Psychology

• Youth Unemployment in Canada, 1976-1998

  Morley Gunderson, Andrew Sharpe et al.•Canadian Public Policy•2000

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• Youth Employment in Canada

  David K Foot, Jeanne C Li•Canadian Public Policy•1986

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• Youth Employment in Canada

  Bruce P Kennedy, Bruce Kennedy•Canadian Public Policy•1987

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