What’s up with work lately?
Youth Chart
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Dig Deeper
Psychographics classify people according to their attitudes, aspirations, and other psychological criteria.
Survey participants ranked the importance of affordability, education and skills development, equity, diversity and inclusion, Indigenous culture, truth and reconciliation, entrepreneurial spirit, local economic growth, digital transformation, transportation, mental health, and climate change. Then, they ranked how their cities performed in each category. By clustering these importance/performance rankings, three distinct groups emerged. Learn more about the clusters by clicking on the data points. Each point represents a survey response.
Key Takeaways — What youth prioritize
Regardless of cluster, the following priorities emerged as key areas to improve Canadian city performance:
Affordability
Mental health
Good youth jobs
Methodology
The bilingual survey investigated how Canada's youth workforce and work ecosystems changed after the COVID-19 pandemic. The primary objective of this survey was to collect insights from youth nationally, to support the development of evidence-based solutions focused on improving community-specific pathways towards skills development and meaningful employment. It was designed in collaboration with policy experts and local actors to ensure that the questions were relevant and aligned with the project's goals. The Equity, Diversity, Inclusivity, Justice and Reconciliation team (EDIJR) at Tamarack Institute validated the survey design. It ensured the content was inclusive and suitable for youth of different identities and lived experiences.
Sampling Design
The survey targeted a representative sample of young people aged 16 to 30, reaching 1626 respondents across Canada. The sampling frame was designed based on Statistics Canada Census 2021 data. Respondents were identified using voluntary sampling through promotion on the Youthful Cities and Tamarack Institute media channels. To align with the values and scope of the DEVlab project, the sample focused on eight cities—Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Calgary, Regina, Moncton, Yellowknife, and Whitehorse—where solutions based on the findings were implemented. Furthermore, the survey design prioritized increasing the representation of equity-deserving groups within the sample.
Data Collection
The survey was in the field between November 2023 and May 2024, exclusively through online collection. It was hosted on Typeform, a common data collection platform. The data collected through Typeform is protected by leading Canadian and international cybersecurity and data protection standards. While the survey was in the field, Youthful Cities purchased a panel sample, totalling 1090 respondents (pre-exclusion and data cleaning), from CICIC research, a Canadian, Dynata-affiliated and ESOMAR-recognized market research organization. The survey complied with ethical guidelines for research involving human participants. All participants were provided with an informed consent form detailing the purpose of the study, the voluntary nature of participation, and assurances of anonymity and confidentiality. Respondents were informed of their right to withdraw from the survey at any point without penalty, and the data collection process was designed to minimize any potential discomfort or risk to participants.
Demographic breakdown
Current cluster: All
Gender
Citizenship Status
Ability
Demographics