Alberta NDP promises to revive summer job program for students
Alberta's New Democratic Party intends to revive and enhance a program that connected summer job seekers with employers aiming to hire and train workers.
Addressing the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce Tuesday, Opposition leader Rachel Notley said the NDP — if re-elected to power — will “bring back and expand” the Summer Temporary Employment Program (STEP), which incentivized high school and post-secondary student employment from May to August through a $7-per-hour wage subsidy.
Before it was cut in 2019, the program cost about $10 million annually and employed around 3,000 students over the 16-week period. Notley said the NDP plan, which would fund the program to the tune of $40 million, would increase STEP'S footprint fourfold.
“We anticipate that this expansion would support the hiring of more than 12,000 young people,” Notley told the chamber, “and our analysis shows that this would actually reduce the youth unemployment rate to the same rate as the general population.”
According to the province, the April unemployment rate for Albertans in the 15 to 24 age group fell 5.7 per cent from the year prior to 10.5 per cent, but it's still nearly double the 5.9 per cent for Albertans 25 years of age and older.
Annie Dormuth, Alberta and B.C. provincial director for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) said while the province is moving toward economic recovery, that goal is still a ways away for many Alberta businesses.
According to April survey data from the CFIB, 82 per cent of Alberta small businesses are having difficulties finding staff.
“They still need all the help that they can get right now to cover costs, especially with inflationary pressures affecting their bottom line,” Dormuth said. “Any type of cost relief that goes to help businesses' overhead, as well as encourages more youth employment and addresses labour shortages, is definitely welcomed policy for small businesses.”
Christian Fotang, vice-president of external affairs for the University of Alberta Students' Union, said STEP was “instrumental” to post-secondary students as an opportunity to gain valuable work experience and success in the job market. But the work it afforded also provided students with financial support to offset some of the costs associated with seeking a higher education, he added, including tuition, textbooks, food and living expenses.
The program's absence “continues to hurt a lot of students who've had trouble finding work in the summer,” Fotang said. “These work programs provided students that extra cash just to be able to get by.”
While the province has supported other training initiatives, including a partnership with Mitacs to align internship opportunities with “priority sectors” identified in Alberta's recovery plan, STEP helped students find work in “diverse sectors,” Fotang added.
First Introduced by then-premier Peter Lougheed in 1972, the program was axed in 2013 by the Progressive Conservatives under Alison Redford. At the time, it cost roughly $7.1 million per year. The cancellation drew outcry from across sectors.
While in power, Notley's NDP brought the program back in 2016 until the United Conservative Party axed it in 2019 as part of an effort to save $32 million over four years.
The UCP'S 2019 budget directed funds instead to Women Building Futures to encourage women to enter the trades, Skills Canada to help students build technology skills, and CAREERS: The Next Generation, an organization connecting students with apprenticeships.