The government understands that its supports for youth in their transition to employment are critical to Canada's economic growth and long-term prosperity. I guess, as I noted in my opening remarks, the youth employment strategy is the main federal initiative aimed at helping young people transition from school to work, and to enhance their employability. Through the YES program, the government invests over $330 million annually to help youth between the ages of 15 and 30 to get the information and to gain the skills and job experience they need to make a successful transition to the workplace.
Yes, there's also a horizontal initiative with our department in the lead, but it cuts across 10 other federal departments and agencies where we work in partnership.
Then the YES program offers three fundamental initiatives: Skills Links, which helps young people with additional barriers to employment develop basic employability skills and to gain job experience to assist them in making a successful transition to the labour market or to return to school. We also have Career Focus, which helps increase the supply of highly qualified youth by providing them with the information, skills, and experience they need to make informed career decisions. Then we have Summer Work Experience, which provides wage subsidies to employers to create summer employment.