Ammon News - As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, unemployment rates for young Canadians increased by about 6 percentage points from 2019 to 2020, roughly twice the increase observed among older Canadian, according to latest official figures.

A report released on Tuesday by the Statistics Canada showed that the unemployment rates of young men and young women aged 15 to 30 were less likely to have full-time permanent jobs in 2019 than in the late 1980s. In 1989, 80.8% of men and 77.1% of women aged 15 to 30 had such jobs; these numbers fell to 73.0% and just over 67.3% in 2019, respectively.

"Because of the job losses the pandemic triggered, the percentage of young men and young women not employed, in education or training (NEET) increased by between 3 and 4 percentage points from 2019 to 2020, " the report indicated.