A June study reveals that remote work accounts for roughly two-thirds of youth unemployment in the United States. In Canada, the situation is even more severe. In 2025, the unemployment rate for Canadian youths reached 13.8 per cent, compared to 10 per cent in the United States.
Employers Reluctant to Hire Inexperienced Workers for Remote Positions
The study highlights the unique challenges left in the wake of Covid-19 that this generation of graduates faces. Many highly qualified university graduates are struggling to land jobs commensurate with their education. Employers are reluctant to hire inexperienced workers for remote positions because training and mentorship are much more difficult to provide from afar. As a result, companies prefer to take on candidates with proven work ethic and experience over just-graduated talent.
Impact on University Graduates
Gen Z students who studied in easily remotable fields, such as software engineering or computer science, are more likely to experience unemployment than those in non-remotable jobs like the trades. Jobs that require a university degree are often more easily remotable than those requiring a college degree. This is reflected in the data: for the first time in years, young Canadians with a university education have a higher unemployment rate than those who have attended college or trade school. Historically, university-educated graduates had equal to or lower unemployment rates than college attendees, but that trend reversed in 2022.
Joshua, a 25-year-old from Toronto who graduated with a Master of Science from the University of Toronto last April, has been job searching for over a year. He estimates filling out at least 50 applications, attending 60 coffee chats, and completing four final-round interviews. Despite being a gifted student—a cellist in Toronto’s Youth Symphony Orchestra, ranked in the top 5 in high school, and a national math competition participant—Joshua says he has been “stuck in a frustrating loop of coffee-chatting and applications.” To gain experience, he recently accepted a pro bono position at a consulting firm.
A Changed Job Market
Other generations have inherited poor job markets, graduated into recessions, and experienced the erasure of entire fields due to technological developments. However, the outbreak of Covid-19 and the unpredictable lockdowns that followed transformed the job market entirely, moving office jobs into the home. Now, even a diligent youth filled with sports practices, music recitals, unpaid internships, and perfect grades no longer guarantees a place in Canada’s job market. Companies save by not paying for office spaces, but at the cost of young people like Joshua, who benefit the most from working in person.
