Finance committee  The background information is being done. We work with the Canadian occupational projection system, which is a branch of what used to be HRSDC, now ESDC. There is some very good work being done looking at the future of labour markets in Canada. I just don't know if that information is being disseminated as well as it could be through communication in the media, through other venues, just to let people know that the information is out there.

Finance committee  I don't know if I should leave the word to Ms. Schirle.

Finance committee  I'd just go back very quickly to the point that it's been a very good program. We deal with a lot of industry sectors. Businesses tell us how valuable that program is even though it is expensive and hard to apply, but it is looking like it's become a permanent program and the stock of workers is too high.

Finance committee  One thing has been mentioned by Ms. Yalnizyan, but essentially training and better aligning and better information around the labour market, so labour market information is the issue that would help. I do know, for example, that the Working in Canada site is very good. I don't know whether youth are all that well informed about it.

Finance committee  That is a tough question. I'm not sure that I have seen much data on that particular segment. We certainly have heard about it on a global basis. They're called the NEETs—Not in Education, Employment, or Training—but I'm not quite sure what those numbers are, to be honest, in terms of the Canadian situation.

Finance committee  Well, having said that I'm not quite sure what those numbers are, certainly when you look at the 20- to 24-year-olds, you do see—as Mr. Poschmann highlighted—a very different situation there in terms of the unemployment rates. But I think in general we are seeing youth participation rates into the labour force in both those cohorts not up to where they were previous to the recession.

Finance committee  Well, I would guess that most young people—if they're anything like my son—are still living at home, so you can imagine the barrier to mobility would be the cost of not only travelling and finding work, but of course finding a place to stay, so there are a lot of impediments. I would think—and I think this has been proposed in the past—some sort of subsidies around mobility would probably be a good way to encourage a little bit more mobility.

Finance committee  Just very quickly then on this temporary foreign worker program, I think it's been very effective at filling gaps. Especially for big projects when we've needed workers, it's been very effective for those organizations. The problem is that the number of temporary foreign workers has risen and risen and risen.

Finance committee  Maybe I'll let Ms. Schirle go first.

Finance committee  I think we're always conscious of the financial situation that the governments are in and that when we spend in one area we have to obviously take away from other areas. Again, I think that in terms of job creation for youth, we certainly would prefer to see those jobs being created in the private sector and those opportunities come because the labour markets are better aligned.

Finance committee  Yes.

Finance committee  Not to say that I'm against funding, it's just that I think there are two sides to every spending program. If we're conscious of that and we feel it is a worthy place to spend, all the better. Certainly we're concerned about youth employment—and I've talked about that—and youth participation in the labour force.

Finance committee  Thank you for the question. Yes, we do like the job grant program, in the sense that it is driven at the core by an investment in terms of dollars from those organizations wanting to hire. We feel that it is a very good signal in terms of driving where the money is spent with the private sector actually having to ante up some money in terms of the programs.

Finance committee  I think so as well. It's not clear that across all regions there are huge gaps in the need for skilled trades, but there certainly are some regions in this country where there's a desperate need for skilled trades and they're not finding the workers. There are two issues here. One is labour mobility, and one is the training.

Finance committee  It's a huge cost to have youth out of the labour market if they are looking for work. I think you're absolutely right when you're talking about this increase. We have seen a significant increase in part-time workers recently and that certainly displaces when you look at youth employment.