Thanks for the opportunity to speak today and for asking the CLC to speak about our research report on young workers in Canada. One of the most important poverty reduction strategies is the assurance of decent work for young Canadians. Education and training are cornerstones of this, and there is a lot that governments and employers can do and really should be doing to strengthen these links.
It really has been a tough few decades for young Canadians. We've seen global trends like the growing service sector, the rise in non-standard forms of employment, globalization, and technological change and innovation, and they're truly transforming the world of work. There are a lot of opportunities here and great potential, but because of a lack of regulations, policies, and programs, precarious forms of work have risen, economic inequality has expanded, and young people have been disproportionately affected.
Canadians are the most highly educated people in the world. We rank first among OECD countries for post-secondary education completion rates. While enrolment in universities, colleges, and apprenticeships continues to rise, so do tuition fees. More than at any other point in history, students are now balancing school and work just to make ends meet. Despite this record number of students holding part-time work, they're still carrying record levels of debt, and student debt continues to balloon.
Each year, hundreds of thousands of young Canadians are coming out of school with record debt, but they're unable to find decent work, and certainly not work that is making use of their skills and expertise. The job market is truly failing young Canadians, and student debt is quickly transforming into family debt. Our report found that now young people in record numbers are forced to live with their parents, are delaying marriage, and are delaying having children.
The youth unemployment rate is double that of the core-age unemployment rate. Underemployment has now reached 26%. One in four young Canadians is underemployed. Almost one-third of young people are now in temporary work. This compares to about 10% of core-age workers. About one-half of young people are in part-time employment. We need to bust the myth that they're in part-time employment by choice. This is the case for some, but one in five is in part-time employment involuntarily, because there's just nothing else available.
For these reasons, young people are also more likely to hold multiple jobs, especially young women. Young people are unable or are very unlikely to have access to workplace pensions and benefits. Only 9% of young workers in their early 20s have a pension plan. This compares to about 37% of those in their early 50s.
We are also seeing a drastic rise of employers misclassifying workers as self-employed. Doing this is really shifting the costs and risks of owning a business onto the workers themselves. It also denies workers basic protections like minimum wages and hours of work. This trend is also impacting access to employment insurance and other social services. This is especially problematic given the rise in temporary employment and that fact that young people aren't able to access EI between periods of this kind of work.
Precarious work has become the new norm for people in Canada. The impact on youth poverty is drastic. Today the total amount of debt carried by young people is double what it was in 1999, and 15% of Canadians between 20 and 35 now live in poverty.
The labour market is failing young people. It's scarring them for later in life. The consequences are higher risks of poverty throughout life and the expansion of numbers of working poor.
The federal government has taken some positive steps toward improving training and the labour market for young people. The Canada summer jobs program is an excellent step, and it's exactly what we need to be doing, but it should go beyond just the summer months. It needs to continue year-round. We should be exploring a youth guarantee, such as they're doing in Europe. This would guarantee all young Canadians either training or employment. It would really help to smooth and bridge the transition into the workforce.
Although registered apprenticeship is on the rise, it still only represents about 2.5% of the workforce, which is a very small percentage of the workforce, and completion rates remain very low.
This means that people who are going through apprenticeships are not actually benefiting from the wage premium that comes out of completing and certification.
Women and people of colour are drastically under-represented in apprenticeships, and this is something that needs to be addressed. Women represent only about 14% of apprenticeships, and if you remove some of the lower-wage positions, such as aesthetics and hair styling, women represent only 4% of apprenticeships in Canada.
Both employers and governments need to be doing more to support and promote apprenticeship training, and we need to be doing more to support young workers once they're in the workforce. Government should be exploring legislation that bans two-tier contracts, and reviewing and revising employment standards and labour laws to ensure that they have really kept up with the changing nature of work.
Within this picture, it's very important to remember that Canadian youth are the most diverse generation in history. We have growing numbers of newcomers, young people of colour, and aboriginal youth. There is also a growing awareness of the presence and needs of LGBTQ youth, and youth with disabilities. Although it's not as present as within the core-age population, discrimination continues to exist in terms of access to education, in hiring practices, and within the workplace.
It is essential that strategies to reduce poverty through the realization of decent work take into account this diversity and ensure equal opportunities for all.
Thank you for this opportunity. I look forward to answering any questions about our report.