CNE starts interviews for 5K jobs after receiving 54K applications

Thousands of young people are set to line up for job interviews at the Canadian National Exhibition Wednesday amid a high level of youth unemployment in Ontario.

The CNE says it has received more than 54,000 online job applications for more than 5,000 seasonal positions at the two-week fair, including cashiers, retail associates, game attendants, food service staff, midway operators and informational guides.

It says this is the highest number of job applications it has ever received, calling it a reflection of a job market that’s causing high rates of youth unemployment.

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One expert says the youth unemployment rate is higher this year compared to the same period last year but it’s still lower than during the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2008 recession.

Viet Vu, the manager of economic research at Toronto Metropolitan University’s Dais think thank, says youth unemployment is up because the job market has cooled over the last several months, due to fewer businesses hiring and the disruptions in trade with the United States.

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for people aged 15 to 24 in Ontario was 15.8 per cent in June.

Vu says a lot of young people who are looking for their first job after graduation and students who are looking for summer jobs are hit especially hard in a difficult job market.

The CNE says it has already hired people for more than 1,000 positions.