Background
Employment is both an essential need and an incredible challenge for newcomer youth starting their lives in Canada. While newcomer youth possess many strengths and skills for employment, research shows that they also have a lower employment rate than youth born in Canada and earn less despite high levels of education.
With funding from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) through the Youth Employment and Skills Strategy Program (YESS), Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council (TRIEC), JVS Toronto (JVS) and WoodGreen Community Services (WoodGreen) co-led a research project to better understand the needs of newcomer youth and the unique skills and experience they bring to the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) workforce, as well as the barriers they encounter.
The partners spoke to thousands of youth to better understand their employment journey, as well as hundreds of employers, educators and other stakeholders. Blueprint helped facilitate sessions with newcomer youth from across the GTA to better understand the unique challenges and opportunities they face in the labour market and to co-design recommendations for what can be done to ensure all newcomer youth are able to realize their full potential