Canada’s land of opportunity for young adults is Alberta and Saskatchewan. A new Fraser Institute study ”Go West, Young Adults: The 10-year Western Boom in Investment, Jobs, and Incomes,” says the provinces offer the best opportunities for Canadians between 25 and 34-years-old.
Author Mark Milke says the west is capturing Ontario and Quebec’s best and brightest, and the two provinces are starting to mimic Atlantic Canada’s poor economic prospects.
“Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and and Quebec have said no to drilling for shale gas, for example. Well, [it’s] no surprise then that their economies are in the tank. Alberta has said yes of course historically to oil and gas. Saskatchewan has said yes.”
Milke notes the average unemployment rate for this age group in Alberta, between 2003 and 2012, was 4.2 per cent. In Saskatchewan it was at 4.8 per cent. Quebec and Ontario rates were more than seven per cent. During the same time, Alberta saw a net gain of 60,855 career-age young adults. The report also argues that private investment is the key to creating jobs and other opportunities.
“The money is simply not flowing there and that means the jobs are not being created later on. And that’s just one statistic. Chronic unemployment is actually worse in Ontario than it is in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Milke says the statistics clearly show “a steady exodus of young Canadians” from Central and Eastern Canada to greener pastures of the west.
