Good news for Canadian students as Summer Jobs Program gets $10m boost

The Canada Summer Jobs Program, under which small businesses and not-for-profit companies receive funding to recruit students during summer months, has received an additional $10 million this year from the federal government, which is expected to pay for an additional 3,500 jobs across the country. Last year, about 37,000 students had received summer jobs subsidized through the program.

The Canada Summer Jobs Program has helped several students in recent years to cover a part of the costs of their post secondary education and also opened up avenues of practical exposure in fields in which they wish to work in future. In order to be eligible for a job funded by this particular program, a student must be between 15 and 30 years, have a legal permit to work in Canada and must have been registered as a full-time student in the previous academic year, with an intention to return to school on a full-time basis in the following academic year.

The program was heavily affected in 2006 when the budget for the same was slashed to half; however, with record unemployment among Canadian youth during the recent recession and increases in the cost of education, the latest boost from the government is expected to help students find employment and also sustain further studies to develop the skills needed to thrive in a revitalized economy.