'Anxious about the future': Some job seekers in the Greater Toronto Area struggling to find work amid high unemployment rate
CTV
Hundreds of thousands of people in Toronto are either unemployed or underemployed. CTV News Toronto spoke with job seekers in the Toronto area who were looking for work amid the relatively high unemployment rate. Here are a few of those conversations, as well as advice from experts on how to improve your chances of landing a full-time job.
When Joy Ojehanon left Nigeria seven years ago, she said she had “high hopes” for a new life in Canada, filled with opportunity and professional success.
But what’s followed her arrival in Toronto has been what she describes as a “heartbreaking” job search, despite her experience and education in the field of child and youth care.
“After some months in Canada, I started looking for a job, but my job applications were consistently rejected by employers, citing my lack of Canadian qualifications/work experience,” she told CTV News Toronto.
Last year, Ojehanon decided to go back to school and graduated with a degree in her field while working weekends at a shelter and group home. When she still couldn’t find a full-time job, she decided to pursue a master’s degree, which she’ll finish in August.
Still, Ojehanon explained, gainful employment has been almost impossible to come by and the search is now paired with nearly $50,000 in student debt.
“I feel so sad and frustrated, at the same time, anxious about the future,” she said.
Ojehanon is one of hundreds of thousands of people in Toronto who are either unemployed or underemployed. Earlier this month, Statistics Canada released updated employment data for the month of May, which showed that the city’s unemployment rate was at 7.9 per cent, or 317,200 people, a 0.2 per cent jump from April and a 1.9 per cent increase year-over-year.
