Volunteering to Tackle Youth Unemployment in Canada

This article discusses the chronic problem of youth unemployment in Canada, with rates ranging from 11.2% to 14.9% between 2000 and 2017. Educated youths are also facing unemployment, with similar rates to high school graduates. Volunteering is presented as a solution to this problem, with opportunities for youths to gain skills and increase employability. The article also highlights the benefits of volunteering for personal and professional development, and for the community. Roles and responsibilities of volunteers are outlined, and volunteering centers are listed.

Volunteering to tackle youth
unemployment in Canada
In 1985, the UN General Assembly
established International Volunteering Day
(IVD) to be celebrated every 5th of
December. The IVD provides opportunity
for government, nongovernmental
organizations, volunteer organizations and
individual organizations to raise public
awareness on how the volunteering activities
can help contribute to economic and social
development. There are a number of ways
through which public can be sensitized on
opportunities for volunteering including:
 Conferences
 Morning teas
 Workshops
 Campaigns and,
 Exhibitions
Youth unemployment in Canada
Unemployment
The reports show that the youth
unemployment rates have stagnantly ranged
11.2% to 14.9% between 2000 and 2017.
Recent studies have indicated that13% of the
Canadian youths between 15 and 25 years
old were unemployed in 2016 (Statista,
2018). This reports indicates that youth
unemployment is increasingly becoming
chronic problem in Canada. Ontario, New
Brunswick, Newfoundland, and Nova Scotia
are among the leading provinces having
unemployment rates above the national
average.
Scaring fact that educated are
unemployed
It is true that education can increase
youth employment, however this is not the
case for the Canadian population. It is
reported that educated youth have similar
unemployment rates with high school
graduates in Ontario. This exception means
that more educated youths are
underemployed as they look for low-skill
jobs. The federal and provincial government
need to institute measures to tackle
unemployment and provide meaningful jobs
for the educated youths. This brochure
describes the great role of volunteering in
tackling unemployment.
Figure 1: Youths volunteering, source:
http://www.progressio.org.uk/blog/empowered-blog/hondu
ras-reducing-youth-unemployment
Opportunities of volunteering for youths
and organizations
To avert the challenge of
unemployment, the youths need to present
themselves and work as volunteers with
would-be employers. The youths can
volunteer to work in almost any setting
around the world including homes,
neighborhood or in the offices. It is believed
that one volunteering with organizations
help in sharpening personal and professional
skills thus increasing employability of
educated youths (Jehanzeb, K., & Bashir,
2013). One important benefits of
volunteering is that it helps in building
resume. The businesses offering
volunteering programs to support the cause
are able to gain positive reputation in
community’s eyes. Furthermore,
volunteering is good for personal health as it
physical and psychological health as one
interacts with different people and building
social networks thus helping in handling
stress (Piliavin & Siegl, 2007). This saves
youth from indulging in irresponsible
behavior like drug abuse and unprotected
sex.
Volunteering to help those in need in
the community provides natural sense of
accomplishment that increase self-esteem
and confidence. Some of the skills that
youths can gain during volunteering
included leadership, problem solving,
adaptability and team building,
communication, time management,
communication and interpersonal skills.
Volunteering therefore provides opportunity
to gain diverse skills that can be transferred
to workplace. Importantly, volunteering
helps in betterment of the community
through impacting positively on the health
and wellbeing of the society thus creating
socially responsible citizens (Muthuri,
Matten & Moon, 2009).
Roles and responsibilities of volunteer
 Punctual on volunteering duty
 Maintain healthy working
relationship with the organization
 Maintain confidentially of sensitive
information for the organization
 Comply with policies and procedures
of the organization
 Stick to limits of volunteer’s roles
Volunteering centers
Government agencies
Private corporations
Nongovernmental organizations

Multinational corporations abroad
References
Jehanzeb, K., & Bashir, N. A. (2013).
Training and development program
and its benefits to employee and
organization: A conceptual
study. European Journal of business
and management, 5(2).
Muthuri, J. N., Matten, D., & Moon, J.
(2009). Employee volunteering and
social capital: Contributions to
corporate social
responsibility. British Journal of
Management, 20(1), 75-89.
Piliavin, J. A., & Siegl, E. (2007). Health
benefits of volunteering in the
Wisconsin longitudinal
study. Journal of Health and Social
Behavior, 48(4), 450-464.
Statista. (2018). Unemployment rate of 15 to
24 year olds in Canada from 2000 to
2017. Retrieved on 18 April 2018
from
https://www.statista.com/statistics/44
0853/youth-unemployment-rate-in-
canada/