Canada – For a ‘Just Say No’ policy toward the unpaid positions

After years of official silence on the employment issues faced by young adults, the comments by both Mr. Poloz and Mr. Oliver represent progress. Finally, the issue has pushed its way into a political culture that has endless time for families and seniors, but never mentions young adults. Now, the question is how to keep the momentum going.

Parents of millennials, a lot of this is on you. You need to do more than commiserate with your peers about your kids while quietly raiding your savings or taking on debt to support them. If you’re the parent of an educated millennial who can’t find work despite maximum effort, talk to your member of Parliament or provincial representative. Ask them, not to solve the youth employment problem, but simply to look at ways to encourage businesses to offer full-time jobs to young people. Politicians excuse themselves for ignoring young adults on the basis that they don’t vote. Whether that’s true or not, their parents do.

Gen Y itself needs to find a voice on this. Tell older Canadians you can’t afford to buy their houses, and you may not be able to pay the taxes that fund their health care and old age benefits. Tell them, as Mr. Poloz suggested, that your employment issues are a legacy of a financial crisis that continues to warp our financial system in all kinds of ways (low interest rates, for one).

Finally, it’s time to consider a Just Say No policy toward the unpaid positions that Mr. Poloz suggested millennials accept in lieu of paid work. U.S. surveys have shown that these internships are ineffective in getting people hired full-time (paid internships are much more productive). Companies may think they’re doing good by offering unpaid internships, but what they’re really doing is valuing young workers at zero.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at Arise from the basement Gen Y. Your problems are finally being noticed – The Globe and Mail.

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Canada – Having something unpaid on your CV is very worth it says Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz

Labour lawyers and economists are criticizing Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz over comments he made suggesting that youth work for free in order to avoid the “scarring” of long-term joblessness. Poloz cited the problem of graduates living in their parents’ basements, unable to find work. “The longer it takes for a jobless youth to … Continue reading →