Youth unemployment in Canada, 1976-1998

Analysis of youth unemployment indicates: (i) The ratio of youth-adult rate s exhibits a U-shaped pattern, declining markedly from 1976 to 1983, levell ing off from 1984 to 1990, but rising sharply thereafter, mainly far teenag ers. (ii) The pattern results from the combination of a relative improvemen t among non-students in the late 1970s and 1980s, and a relative deteriorat ion for full-time students seeking part-time work over the 1990s. (iii) If it were not for the declining youth cohort size, the ratio of youth to adul t unemployment would have been substantially higher than its already high r atio in the 1990s. (iv) Recessions tend to worsen the unemployment of youth s relative to adults for non-student males while improving it for students. (v) The youth labour market is not homogeneous, but varies considerably be tween males and females, teenagers and young adults, and students and non-s tudents.