B.C.'s youth unemployment rate second-highest in Canada with 16.6 per cent in May

High school students walking across graduation stages this month will step into an uncertain job market as B.C. has the second-highest youth unemployment rate in Canada. 

Figures released by Statistics Canada this month show the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate among people ages 15 to 24 was 16.6 per cent in May, up from 13.4 in April 2025 and up from 10.5 per cent in May 2024.

Only Alberta has recorded a higher unemployment rate in that age category with 17.2 per cent, while the national youth unemployment rate is at 14.2 per cent.

B.C.'s youth unemployment rate for May 2025 is below the rate of June 2020, when the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate among youth hit 28.6 per cent based on figures from Statistics Canada because of COVID-19. 

But the current unemployment rate among youth exceeds youth unemployment 15 years ago when it hit annual peak of 15.6 per cent in June 2010 in the midst of the so-called Great Recession caused by the financial crisis of 2007-2008.

B.C.'s overall employment rate for May 2025 was 6.4 per cent, up from 6.2 per cent in April 2025 and 5.6 per cent in May 2024.

Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Matt Rourke