Youth unemployment rate continues to climb, leaving many UVic students stressed and under significant financial strain
Illustration by Sage Blackwell.
This September, the Canadian youth unemployment rate climbed to 14.7 per cent, surpassing the 14.5 per cent high in August. Aside from the COVID-19 Pandemic, this is the highest the youth unemployment rate has been since 2010.
Over 2 000 new students enroll at UVic each year, many of them seeking part-time work to support themselves during the school year. While university can be stressful enough on its own, this year, many students are facing the additional financial and emotional stress of not being able to find work.
“I’ve never had to consider getting student loans until now,” said Catalina Allenby Peña, a fourth-year psychology student at UVic. “It’s been two months since I moved here… and I definitely didn’t expect to still be looking for a job.”
Allenby Peña told the Martlet that unemployment has been negatively affecting her mentally. Her previous work experience includes serving at an established winery for five years, but she says that, after months of applying for jobs, she is still having no luck.
“It makes me feel like I’m not worthy. Like, nobody wants me even with my experience,” says Allenby Peña.
The youth unemployment crisis is not just affecting currently enrolled students, it is affecting recent graduates too. Lucas Bowen graduated from UBCO in May 2025 with a Bachelor’s of Applied Science in Civil Engineering.
“[I’d] applied to basically every civil engineering company in [B.C.]. It took dozens of attempts and a couple interviews… and I did not get any sort of job offer in any city that I would’ve wanted, [even] despite having pretty extensive co-op experience and very high grades,” Bowen said.
“It was a very tough period, especially going through all the rejections with the uncertainty of having graduation looming. … [There was] a lot of low balling, fake job postings, and a lot of ghosting,” he said.
Reflecting on the process, Bowen believes the reason behind the youth unemployment crisis comes down to greed on the part of many employers.
“I think the main reason [for youth unemployment] is companies trying to cut corners and refusing to train younger people,” he said.
International students also face the financial stress of unemployment, as they pay as much as four times more than domestic students. Simran Rathore, a third-year international psychology student at UVic, told the Martlet she also faced financial and mental stress trying to find a job in Victoria.
Rathore moved to Victoria from India two years ago. She said that finding a job with no experience was a tough process. After handing out several resumes, most workplaces would not hire her due to lacking previous experience.
“I didn’t want to do it for the money [at first], I just wanted to gain experience, so that I could apply for a better job,” said Rathore.
The prolonged process of finding a job in Victoria was difficult for Rathore, and caused her a lot of guilt and financial stress.
“It affected me [financially,]” Rathore said. “Because I pay four times more than a domestic student.” Rathore said she felt like she “wasn’t contributing enough to her parents finances,” and that the difficulties finding a job made her feel like she wasn’t being independent enough.
Rathore also says that “There are no job vacancies. People want to play it safe because everyone knows the job market is so bad right now.”
The university’s co-op and career/general boards are both resources students can access to search for work, as is UVic’s Work Study program, which can help students find field-relevant work on campus that fits around their schedule.
“I worked so hard on my resume. … If you’re going for any job that you really want, talk to either co-op coordinators or people who can help you with your resume,” says Rathore. “I wouldn’t [talk] to a friend, because they’re biased, but I would talk to someone who is professional and knows what they’re doing.”
