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

ABSTRACT

According to the "scar theory," past unemployment can lead to long-term poor labour-market outcomes in terms of an increased incidence of unemployment in the future, and employment in lower quality and lower paying jobs. To support youth during the recovery and alleviate potential negative long-term effects, Canadian governments (at all levels) need to ensure that young Canadians are equipped with relevant skills, support them to make up for learning losses and consider targeted labour market programs and policies that help encourage greater participation and ease the transition into employment and better jobs for young Canadians who still face difficulties finding employment. According to the "scar theory," past unemployment can lead to long-term poor labourmarket outcomes in terms of an increased incidence unemployment in the future, and employment in lower quality and lower paying jobs (Heckman and Borjas 1980;Arulampalam, Gregg, and Gregory 2001). Canada can do more to support youth who remain unable to find employment and address learning losses to mitigate long-term negative effects by taking the following steps. * Expand employment services (counselling and job search assistance) to reduce unemployment duration and recurrence;* Enhance labour-market flexibility and