SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
It took 20-year-old Kaitlyn Arden a long time to find a job in Yellowknife this summer.
"I must have put out over 10 resumes in about three weeks and I had absolutely no callbacks. It was very discouraging and I got really frustrated," she said.
After getting little in the way of response from employers, Arden took to the streets and began handing out resumes in person.
Shortly after, she landed a job at Sutherland Drugs. Though it brings her an income, Arden said her current job situation doesn't do much to propel her toward her dream of pursuing a business career.
"I enjoy my job, but I really want to go back to school soon and take business classes eventually," she said.
According to Statistics Canada, however, Arden's problem finding work in Yellowknife were not typical. Statistics Canada's labour force survey states that compared to last year, in the six-month period from January to June this year, there was a 24-per-cent increase in youth employment in the NWT, and Yellowknife experienced a 20-per-cent increase in youth employment during the same time frame.
"Yellowknife's youth, and youth across the NWT, are enjoying the highest rate of employment in Canada right now," said Jason Gilmore, a senior analyst with the Labour Statistics Division of Statistics Canada in Ottawa.
Still, even though the numbers are favouring youth when it comes to employment in Yellowknife and the NWT, there were no youth jobs among the 580 positions posted in Human Resources and Skills Development Canada's Yellowknife job bank from April 2010 to March 2011, according to Amelie Maisonneuve, spokesperson for the department.
Vishni Peeris, a territorial statistician for the GNWT, said young Yellowknifers are included in the city's current employment rate of 79 per cent.
"The high employment rate is based on Yellowknife residents ages 15 and up. We have a great employment rate here. It's really steady and young workers are part of that," she said.
Representatives from the human resources department with the City of Yellowknife could not be reached for comment as of press time.
Cathy Jewison, manager for policy and communications with the GNWT, said Yellowknife has been an ideal place for students to find jobs this summer, and added the city's summer student employment program has been highly successful in 2011.
"This year, 681 students applied for the program across the NWT, and 434 of them are from Yellowknife," she said, adding there were 677 applicants last year.
The program's employment opportunities have changed over the years, but Jewison said students currently in the program are employed in research, financial and administrative positions, as well as record-keeping and clerical positions.
Jewison said, to date, 169 students have been hired in Yellowknife compared to 163 last year.
