Canada Summer Jobs 2017 application period for employers extended - Employers who haven't already applied are invited to do so today

GATINEAU, QC, Jan. 19, 2017 /CNW/ - Summer work experience for students helps them prepare for good, well-paying jobs as they start their careers—strengthening our middle class and keeping our economy growing.

Today, the Honourable Patty Hajdu, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour, announced that the employer application period for the 2017 Canada Summer Jobs (CSJ) program is being extended until February 3, 2017, to allow more employers to apply for funding to hire summer students.

All small businesses, not-for-profit organizations and public-sector employers are encouraged to apply for funding from the Government of Canada to hire summer students.

The CSJ program creates summer job opportunities and valuable work experience specifically for students ages 15 to 30.

Along with local priorities, employers are encouraged to come forward with applications that support and complement five national priorities:

• small businesses working to become more innovative, competitive and successful, in recognition of their key contribution to the creation of new jobs;
• employers involved in the welcome and settlement of immigrants (including Syrian refugees) in Canada;
• employers that hire Indigenous people;
• opportunities in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sectors; and
• employers involved in activities celebrating Canada's 150^th anniversary of Confederation.

Many employers find that hiring students brings new life and ideas to the workplace. Watch their stories here.

Applicants approved for funding will be able to hire students as early as April 2017. For more information and to apply, please visit Canada.ca/Canada-summer-jobs or visit a Service Canada Centre.

Quote

"I invite all employers who haven't yet done so to apply today to receive support to hire students this summer. This is a tremendous opportunity to give work experience to energetic, enthusiastic students, and to keep our economy growing."
– The Honourable Patty Hajdu, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour

Quick Facts

• Public-sector employers and small businesses with up to 50 employees can receive 50 percent of the provincial/territorial minimum hourly wage.
• Not-for-profit employers can receive 100 percent of the provincial/territorial minimum hourly wage and mandatory employment-related costs.
• Canada Summer Jobs has created almost 400,000 student jobs since its inception.

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Backgrounder

Youth Employment Strategy

The Youth Employment Strategy (YES) is the Government of Canada's commitment to help youth make a successful transition to the workplace. The YES helps youth between the ages of 15 to 30 get the information and gain the skills, job experience and abilities they need to make a successful transition to the workforce. The YES includes Skills Link, Career Focus and Summer Work Experience and is delivered by 11 federal departments.

• Summer Work Experience provides wage subsidies to employers to create summer employment for secondary and post-secondary students. The Summer Work Experience program includes Canada Summer Jobs.
• Skills Link helps youth facing barriers to employment—including single parents, youth with disabilities, Indigenous youth, young newcomers and youth in rural and remote areas—to develop employability skills and gain experience they need to find a job or return to school.
• Career Focus helps post-secondary graduates transition to the labour market through paid internships and helps provide youth with the information and experience they need to make informed career decisions, find a job and/or pursue advanced studies.

Each year, the Government invests approximately $330 million in the YES to help young people gain the skills and experience they need to find and keep good jobs.

Budget 2016 builds on that amount and proposed to invest an additional $278.4 million in 2016–17 in the YES to help nurture and develop the underutilized talent of Indigenous youth, youth with disabilities, single parents and newcomers by:

• creating new green jobs for youth;
• increasing the number of youth who access the Skills Link program, which helps young Canadians overcome barriers to employment;
• supporting employment opportunities in the heritage sector under the Young Canada Works program; and
• making new investments in the Canada Summer Jobs program.

Canada Summer Jobs

In February 2016, the Government announced an additional investment of $339 million for the next three years starting in 2016–17 for the Canada Summer Jobs program.

Canada Summer Jobs provides funding to not-for-profit organizations, public-sector employers and small businesses with 50 or fewer employees to create summer job opportunities for students.

SOURCE Employment and Social Development Canada

Jean-Bruno Villeneuve, Press Secretary, Office of the Honourable Patty Hajdu, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour, [email protected], 819-654-5611; Media Relations Office, Employment and Social Development Canada, 819-994-5559, [email protected]