Youth vs. adult employment in Canada

Overview

Students collect and compare employment data for youth and adults.

Contributor: Chris Drummond, Statistics Canada Support Teacher.

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Objectives

• To understand the difficulty youth have getting a job
• To collect and analyse employment statistics
• To become aware of the employment situation for Canadian youth

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Suggested grade levels and subject area

Intermediate
Geography of Canada, Canada at Work: Commerce and Industry Unit

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Outcomes

Students will

• retrieve statistical data from E-STAT;
• calculate unemployment figures using unemployment rates and total population; and
• learn that youth in Canada have a higher unemployment rate than adults, but that there are more unemployed adults in Canada due to population size and participation rate.

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Vocabulary

Labour force — The number of people from the total population actively employed or seeking employment.
Participation rate — The labour force divided by the total population.
Unemployment rate — The number of unemployed people actively seeking work divided by the labour force.

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Materials

• Access to E-STAT. If computer access is limited, students can work from teacher-generated tables.
• Student worksheet

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Classroom instructions

1. Distribute copies of the worksheet to your students.
2. Review the E-STAT instructions required to complete the exercise.
3. Review the terminology.
4. Review how to use population figures, participation rates and the unemployment rate to calculate the actual number of people participating in the labour market and the number unemployed.
5. Students complete the assignment and hand in their work.

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Evaluation

• Grade E-STAT table for correctness.
• Grade answers to questions for completeness.

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Enrichment

Students can discuss the issue of government employment policies (i.e., the importance placed by government on job creation for youths compared with adults.

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Please e-mail comments or examples of how you used this exercise in your class.