Young Workers in Newfoundland and Labrador: Sinking, Swimming, or Treading Water?

Young people today in Canada face a reality vastly different from the one 20 or 30 years ago, economically and socially. This paper will examine how young workers are experiencing various changing realities such as: student debt, precarious employment (unemployment, under-employment, and unwaged work), reduced job security (including unionization), rising inequality, changing wealth/debt dynamics and, less quantifiably, diminished social cohesion and community connection as a result of growing insecurity. While this paper will examine the issue from a national perspective, it will also identify how some of these trends are being played out — or differ — in Newfoundland and Labrador.