Degrees in hand, jobs out of reach: Graduates face worsening job market

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Enmanuel De Jesús, a Concordia master’s graduate in industrial engineering, jokes if you open his computer browser, the first thing you’ll see is his LinkedIn page.

“It’s open three or four times a day,” he said with a laugh.

The 29-year-old from the Dominican Republic completed his master’s degree at the end of 2023 and has been looking for a job in project management, aspiring to one day become a manager or start his own company. For now, he’s applying to as many jobs as possible.

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Chelsea Obodoechina, 31, also completed her master’s degree at Concordia at the end of 2023, in sociology. Hoping to use her degree skills, she takes a different approach in her job search.

“I’m a lot more hesitant to apply for a job if I don’t meet all of the criteria,” said Obodoechina, who is from Montreal. “I’m more prudent.”

The two job seekers, however, agree finding full-time work has become harder and harder — even with advanced degrees.

Graduates in Quebec face fewer job vacancies and stiff competition in a worsening provincial and national job market. New job seekers are often further hindered by a lack of experience because of the COVID-19 pandemic and new language laws.

Last month, Quebec’s unemployment rate rose to 5.7 per cent, its highest since 2018, excluding the pandemic. Youth unemployment (ages 15-24) in Quebec hit 10.3 per cent. Economists from Scotiabank, TD and Indeed say weak economic growth has cooled the demand for workers while population growth has surged.

In 2023, Quebec experienced record-high net migration driven by temporary workers, according to Statistics Canada, and job vacancies have dropped nearly half in the past two years.

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“The two trends together have created an environment where there are a lot more seekers looking for fewer roles,” said Brendon Bernard, an economist with Indeed Canada.

Less hiring appetite amid continued population growth has allowed employers to raise the bar in job requirements, even for entry-level positions, making life more challenging for graduates.

“The job description keeps getting bigger and bigger, and the requirements keep getting higher and higher,” said De Jesús, who speaks English, French and Spanish. “The bar just keeps getting infinitely long.”

He has been working part-time at Concordia while job hunting, a hunt more challenging than he anticipated.

“It’s been harder than I thought it would have been based on everything you hear about Canada,” said De Jesús, who arrived in Quebec in 2022.

For Obodoechina, who works as a part-time tutor, the situation is also frustrating. She pursued her master’s degree to enhance her employability, aiming for advocacy work long-term. But since finishing her master’s, she says she’s still learning how to navigate the job market and is bearing the brunt of the new language laws as an anglophone in Quebec.

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“With the reformation of the language laws, it’s been a lot harder for English speakers to operate within the workplace in their native tongue,” she said.

Despite completing a French workplace course to improve her skills, she still feels the strain and has even considered leaving her home province.

Both job seekers have started using employment services from YES Employment + Entrepreneurship, headquartered in Montreal, to help navigate the job market. Its acting director, Marina Boulos-Winton, says there has been a 27-per-cent increase in the past year of 18- to 35-year-olds using its services. Around two-thirds of their clients hold bachelor’s, master’s or PhD degrees.

“We’re now seeing very educated people not able to get a job,” Boulos-Winton said.

Coming out of the pandemic, where there were fewer internships and networking opportunities, this generation faces a hurdle, explained Boulos-Winton. They need jobs to gain experience, but need experience to get those jobs.

YES provides employment counselling and professional workshops to 18- to 39-year-olds to help navigate the job market. Most of its funding comes from the government, but Boulos-Winton says this funding has remained flat for the past five years.

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Another employment service, Carrefours jeunesse-emploi, cited having to refuse services to “thousands” of 15- to 35-year-olds amid strict criteria from the Quebec ministry for young people to gain funding, as Le Devoir reported.

Boulos-Winton emphasized in her recent Gazette opinion article the need for accessible and free French-language training, along with targeted initiatives for marginalized youth, and sustained investments in mental health and social services.

The national employment market was given a boost when the Bank of Canada cut interest rates last month, and markets are expecting another cut Wednesday, which could provide a boost to the employment market. Meanwhile, the federal government announced in March it would cap the number of temporary workers for the first time in its history to attempt to cool population growth.

But these measures will probably take time to make an effect, and the rising unemployment rate may continue into next year, according to Rishi Sondhi, an economist at TD Bank.

“The increase in the unemployment rate we’re seeing is not going away soon,” he said. “This will continue into next year when economic growth picks up.”

Despite the challenging employment landscape, De Jesús and Obodoechina remain optimistic.

Obodoechina has begun reaching out to her old professors and colleagues, a strategy that has already borne fruit. She recently received a job offer in New Brunswick, but turned it down because her family resides in Quebec.

De Jesús has also come close to securing full-time work and remains hopeful. Many of his friends are in similar positions, he says. He finds camaraderie with them, supporting each other and sharing savvy application tips.

“I really want this,” he says. “If it’s not going to be today, it’s going to be the next day.”

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