‘Runway to be able to launch, learn, revise’

It’s an ongoing cycle in Tasnim Aljoumah’s orbit: submit a stack of resumés, get a sprinkle of responses.

The 16-year-old hasn’t started job hunting yet, but she’s watched her friends’ disheartening results.

“It’s not as fun as it seems, and it’s definitely not as easy,” Tasnim, who’s finishing Grade 11, said Tuesday outside University of Winnipeg Collegiate.

She pondered the job market hours after Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew announced $4.3 million for two initiatives to boost youth employment.

In Manitoba, the youth unemployment rate sat at 11.4 per cent last month. It’s a slight drop from the year prior — 11.9 per cent — but a doubling of the province’s overall rate of 5.5 per cent. The stark contrast is being felt nationally.

At the same time, online platforms are drawing young people in and, in some cases, pulling them towards radical political views and dark corners of the internet, Kinew said.

“If we don’t do this well, things could go sideways,” he told attendees of a Manitoba Chambers of Commerce event Tuesday morning, adding there’s a “percolating anger.”

He announced $3.5 million for NextMB Jobs for Youth, an initiative to connect young workers with Manitoba businesses.

Wage subsidies to hire young people, events such as reverse job fairs and employer-led micro-training programs will likely be part of NextMB. However, details are still being worked out, said Loren Remillard, president of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce.

The chamber is managing the project.

Remillard aims to unroll NextMB in the fall, at the earliest. It will have two streams: one for post-secondary students, recent graduates and apprentices; the other for people not currently in education or training.

Manitobans in the latter stream will be connected to resources such as services to learn soft skills and financial literacy. The chamber will work with agencies including CPHR Manitoba to find candidates, Remillard said.

“We may start off with a particular approach. We will pivot based off feedback,” he said of the overall program. “It really gives us sufficient runway to be able to launch, learn, revise.”

NextMB is set to last five years, Remillard said. It will start with a cohort of 300 youth ages 18 to 29.

The Winnipeg chamber has 2,000 members. It will work with peers across the province to connect workers with employers, Remillard said.

He’s eyeing Manitoba sectors including aerospace and defence, who need more staff to fill “growing demand.”

“We need to be cognizant that there are a number of sectors that are facing significant labour skills shortages … and we want to be responsive,” Remillard said, highlighting the hospitality and retail industries.

He’s hoping the program will also curb the out-migration of skilled Manitobans. The province lost a net 4,180 people to interprovincial migration between July 1, 2024 and July 1, 2025, Statistics Canada data show.

“Too many graduates are leaving this province,” Remillard said. “A big chunk of that is being driven by lack of awareness.”

Kinew said he anticipates NextMB will pave the way for work-integrated learning such as paid internships.

Several people on University of Winnipeg grounds Tuesday noted the difficulty of finding jobs. Olivia Shyiak, 21, both studies and works at the downtown post-secondary. A friend who was laid off in retail couldn’t find another job for at least two years, she said.

“My first job was actually through a connection,” she said. “I feel like that’s really important nowadays.”

Companies are facing inflation, higher wages and trade instability south of the border, leading to a pullback on hiring, said the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce president.

“If the province is willing to step in and help in some of those areas, I think that’s critical,” Chuck Davidson said, adding the money would ideally flow to small- and medium-sized businesses.

Wage subsidy amounts weren’t available Tuesday. Three-hundred workers is relatively small, but a “good step in the right direction,” Davidson said.

The program should remove risk for businesses onboarding new faces, said Bram Strain, president of the Business Council of Manitoba.

David Camfield, a University of Manitoba labour studies professor, called the program a “small measure.”

He’s watched students opt for shorter degree routes — three years instead of four — and skip the experience needed for work placements because they’re squeezed financially and already working on the side.

Lowering tuition costs and creating more jobs in the public sector would be beneficial, Camfield said.

Opposition Leader Obby Khan accused the governing New Democrats of “borrowing from Peter to give to Paul.”

The NDP was criticized for cutting Green Team funding by $4 million in 2024. It subsequently said, in the same year, it’d add $300,000 to the summer jobs program.

“(They’re) making flashy announcements but not doing anything to push Manitoba forward,” Khan said, adding he’s supportive of additional youth employment.

The $4.3 million is likely a mix of new and redistributed money, Kinew told reporters. Of that, $800,000 is being put towards youth work experience at the Boys and Girls Club of Thompson. Positions will focus on carpentry and construction, Kinew said.

The initiative is called Dreambuilders. It will aid people leaving the child welfare system and will include wraparound supports, according to a government news release.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com