About a decade ago, I spent several years in Africa working with youth employment programs. The challenges each country faced were unique, but one commonality stood out: a booming youth population who were struggling to find educational opportunities and stable jobs. I was surprised at the time to find that most African governments had come to define “youth” as anyone under 35, but it made sense when I learned about some of their cultural prerequisites for marriage. In order to become engaged in many African countries, a man needs a stable income to support his bride and any children that may follow. Without that stable job, marriage and the formal milestone of adulthood are out of reach. This social erosion has diminished prospects for young people.

Recently, the youth unemployment rate has been increasing in Canada too. Marriage isn’t necessarily the cultural marker of adulthood it once was in this country, but even so, young people are pairing up later, having children later and living with their parents longer. If they struggle to find jobs that will turn into a career, all of those trends will only continue. For Gen Zs in Canada, independence is no longer a given.

In May, one in five students aged 15 to 24 couldn’t find a summer job. Apart from the pandemic, things haven’t been this bad since the 2008 recession. The duration of unemployment is also lengthening: Ontarians aged 25 to 29 now spend an average of five months jobless, an increase of more than 50 per cent since 2019. This is caused by the economic........

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