We keep telling young people the same thing — start with an entry-level job, build experience, work your way up. It’s a reasonable ladder. Except, for too many youth in this city, the bottom rung is missing.
“Entry-level” is no longer entry-level. Today, those entry-level roles demand previous work experience, volunteer hours, extracurricular credentials and an unspoken familiarity with workplace culture that can only be learned on the job. Without those things, or a connection who can open a door, the first opportunity often doesn’t come.
The Catch-22 of Youth Employment
You need experience to get a job, but you need a job to get experience. For some young people, that gap is bridged by a well-connected parent or neighbour who runs a business. For the youth I work with at Safe Haven Foundation of Canada — young people navigating housing instability, financial stress and limited support networks — those informal pathways don’t exist.
According to Statistics Canada, youth unemployment among Canadians aged 15 to 19 hit 20.8 per cent in the third quarter of 2025, a staggering 12.6 per cent increase from the same period in 2022. Nearly one in five young people trying to enter this labour market can’t find work.
In Calgary, the summer months intensify that challenge. When school ends, thousands of young people enter the job market, often competing for the same limited entry-level roles. Research consistently shows that lack of structure, income and meaningful activity during this period is linked to poorer outcomes across multiple measures.
Stories from the Frontline
At Safe Haven, we see it up close. We sit with young people to build their first resumes. We practice interview questions. We help navigate online application systems that are, frankly, not designed for someone with no work history. We drive across the city to hand-deliver applications, because sometimes visibility is the only lever we have. And still — silence.
Not because these young people aren’t capable. Not because they aren’t trying. We support youth who apply to dozens, sometimes hundreds, of jobs. They are doing precisely what is asked of them — showing up, persisting, trying again. They’re just not being seen.
The gap is not effort. It is access.
The Power of a First Job
This is why the first job matters so much more than people realize. It is a reference, a credential, a signal that someone else has already taken a chance, and it worked. That first yes can set off a chain reaction that shapes a young person’s entire trajectory.
Programs exist to help bridge part of this gap. Summer job grants, wage subsidies and employment initiatives. These tools are real and they work. But they don’t come close to matching the scale of the need.
A Call to Employers
We don’t need to invent new solutions. We need to better connect the ones we have, and we need Calgary employers to meet us halfway. What that looks like in practice — hiring for potential, not just experience. Treating entry-level roles as the learning opportunities they’re supposed to be. And partnering with community organizations such as Safe Haven, which have already done the work of preparing these young people to succeed.
