Lives Put on Hold: The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Canada’s Youth

Canada’s Youth Face Career “Scarring,” Learning Losses Post-Pandemic

• Canada’s youth face career scarring and learning losses post-pandemic, according to a new report released by the C.D. Howe Institute. In “Lives Put on Hold: The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Canada’s Youth,” authors Parisa Mahboubi and Amira Higazy find that youth were disproportionally affected by work and education disruptions, which if left unaddressed, could have major life-long effects on young workers’ employment, productivity, future wages and life-time income.
• The COVID-19 pandemic pushed unemployment rates to a record high for youth, although they have since recovered in many sectors. Still, a major concern is the potential for serious and long-lasting negative career impacts, known as “scarring”. Evidence from past recessions shows that new labour-market entrants and early career workers face an increased incidence of unemployment in the future and employment in lower quality, lower paying jobs.
• Prospects for young Canadians have been worsened by educational disruptions that affected learning, including school closures, inconsistent learning settings, low attendance rates and classroom engagement, and a lack of preparedness for emergency remote digital learning. These learning losses are expected to be particularly significant for low-income and disadvantaged youth with inequitable access to technologies and resources needed for distanced learning.