Manitoba boosts funding for youth employment

Manitoba is looking to boost employment opportunities for the youth in the province. The province is investing $25 million through the new Manitoba Youth Jobs Program and existing Green Team grants to support more than 8,000 youth employment opportunities this summer.

The new jobs program will provide employers a 50-per-cent subsidy on wages paid to eligible employees from May to September 2021, with a maximum of up to $25,000 per employer. This will help more than 2,000 employers recover from the pandemic and create sustainable long-term, seasonal and short-term employment opportunities for more than 6,000 youth, says Pallister.

“Our government is working to protect Manitoba’s youth from the health and economic impacts of the pandemic, as they have been hit particularly hard and face unemployment rates of nearly double the rest of the population,” says Premier Brian Pallister.

The Manitoba Youth Jobs Program builds upon and streamlines the Manitoba Summer Student Recovery Jobs and Back to Work This Summer programs, which helped create and sustain more than 6,000 jobs for young Manitobans in 2020. 

The new program:
• is meant to get money to businesses faster, as employers will be eligible to apply for an advance payment of up to $750 per eligible employee, up to $7,500
• broadens eligibility criteria to include all Manitoba youth under the age of 30
• allows employers to claim employees hired as early as April 1, 2021
• aligns the program’s eligible wage subsidy period to the employer’s own pay schedule to cover full pay periods between May 1 and Sept. 5
• provides a 50 per cent wage subsidy on all regular, overtime and statutory wages earned during the 18-week period as opposed to a flat per-hour wage subsidy.

In January, Manitoba announced it is creating a new department for advanced education, skills and immigration that will provide job opportunities for young people in the province.

Green team grants

The province is also investing more than $10 million in Green Team grant programs to help roughly 2,000 young Manitobans find summer employment. This includes nearly $9 million for the Urban and Hometown Green Team Program and more than $1 million for the Manitoba Parks Green Team.

“Now, more than ever, we need to support local projects and give our youth the work experience they need to take advantage of future career opportunities,” says Derek Johnson, municipal relations minister.

Urban and Hometown Green Team grants allow communities to hire youth aged 15 to 29 to work on community projects between May 1 and Sept. 30. Non-profit organizations in Winnipeg and rural Manitoba are eligible to receive 100 per cent of wage costs and $250 per position for support costs while eligible municipal governments in rural Manitoba receive 50 per cent of wage costs and $125 per position for support costs, on a cost-shared basis.

Younger workers are suffering disproportionately amid the COVID-19 pandemic compared to older workers, according to a report from the International Labour Organization (ILO).