Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Let me begin by commending the committee for taking on this subject matter. It's CUPE's privilege to represent about 625,000 Canadians, tens of thousands of younger workers in all aspects of the public service. We think the public service is a viable option for young Canadians who aspire to it.
The committee has heard in your previous meetings all of the statistics in every corner of Canada. Youth unemployment rates are two and a half times larger than the measured unemployment rate, and it's argued by some that underemployed youth exceed the number of officially unemployed youth.
As my colleague just said we don't know how many unpaid internships there are in Canada. Recent literature pegs it at between 100,000 and 300,000 unpaid internships. The vast majority would be younger workers in those internships. TD Economics puts a huge price tag on this, 1.3% of GDP for youth unemployment and $20 billion annually. It should be an issue for all Canadians, including trade unions.
What is government to do about this? We have four brief things to say and we'll be open to any questions.
First, provide better employment opportunities for young workers within government where possible and don't seek to create a two-tier federal public service.
Second, don't take away job opportunities that would otherwise go to youth through other labour market policies or through lack of other important social programs. By that we mean there are many aging workers staying in the workforce because they don't have access to a viable pension plan. The Globe and Mail has joined us along with most others in saying that an expansion of the Canada pension plan would allow for people to ease out of the work market and free up some of those jobs for young workers.
Before Mr. Carney departed for the U.K., he had a lot to say about the temporary foreign workers program—specifically, what it was never intended to do. It wasn't intended to subsidize any employer in Canada with low-paying jobs.
Third, provide proactive national labour force planning and training to generate quality jobs in collaboration with industry, labour, educational, and research organizations.
We want to acknowledge and compliment the federal government. There have been some positive moves to expand financial assistance available for apprenticeships through grants, the apprenticeship loan program, and tax measures. We collectively as a society, including the federal government at all levels, need to do something to enable all students to get qualified and educated, including the cost of tuition fee in post-secondary settings.
The federal government should provide funding for organizations that support long-term collaborative planning. We've seen the elimination of sector councils, the Canadian Council on Learning. In the long run we see this as counterproductive.
Lastly, Mr. Chairman, federal and provincial governments should increase direct support for youth employment. Federal funding through the youth employment strategy should be expanded.
Canadian governments could consider providing young workers with a youth guarantee. We're reading things about the European Council guaranteeing $6 billion for a Europe-wide youth guarantee. Austria has been the first jurisdiction to put pen to paper. This is worth reading and considering as a society. It might seem to be expensive—$10,000 per young worker—but I think it pales in comparison to the price we're paying for youth unemployment. The European initiatives are well worth our considering here in Canada.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.