usd article by Ian Wise-
hadian University Press)
Infortunate side effect of
18 recent economic reces-
beginning to show as uni-
“ €nrolment figures and
/ tnemployment figures are
p tbulated this fall—Cana-
Wouth from the ages of 15
ve no place to go.
*labor force, in these times
); Wnemployment and the
1 of layoffs (due to Pre-
hy Nixon’s import — sur-
;,. cannot accommodate
than 50 percent of the
j? Workers in the job mark-

| University enrolment is
across the country due
fact that the economic
I, has caused a_ severe
© in summer jobs for stu-
h ighter money in many
of students, and higher
4 Y admission standards
.,” Provincial govern-
}, “ho cannot afford to sub-
these “tSities to the degree
8 institutions have be-
Ccustomed.,
are, university stu-
a beginning to realize
vege degree is no longer
. ket to a cushy job:
‘lumber of college gradu-
blo SO rises the rate of
bey ment among ~ people
, than 25 years of age.
» <' and fewer grads are
Py York in their specific
saalification. :
},, °° becoming increasing-
n the midst of this eco-
tor ™oil, that the prolife-
in ©OVernment task forces,
i Teports, and brain-
TP, YOuth employment
ty are really an attack on
yp ms of youth unem-
i ie The disease — a capi-
7}, ve industrial society
Py (stricted by American
#_ - Most Canadian indus-
}; , OMtinues its cancerous
“checked.
hy otter four frustrating
iy, Mflation followed by
», “employment, the gov-
the as set up an inter-
teat study group (the
i force’ has become
ton use of its embarrass-
iy tations) to form a
hmust” to study the eco-
®Y will concentrate on
} ane nployment among
Pin the relationship of
Mn, enrolment in post-
hejeg tecational institutes.
ary ©nrolment for post-
i ‘NStitutes this year,
ity Was 594,000 students.
Aoje the figure is only 519,-
i c'€d enrolment for uni-
Ds) €xcluding the Quebec
lou, “2S. 341,000. But the
Pi. © 8 less than 300,000.
POner’. the missing stu-
1 iy thing is certain: they
tf the € labor force. Over
Ps in 455,000 unemployed
[Sy Canada today are un-
i a Situation has been
My e for the past ten
tions It is reaching crisis

, Year
Nhe ‘sity enrolment are go-
a 42d to erase. A quick
Ito € following selected
Derg last month’s daily
thay .dUickly dispels the
alll is right with the
th ohomy: A
‘y of wrolment at the Uni-
Ore Calgary forced the
Mt ~°Vernors there to im-
On th immediate budget
ang © hiring of both aca-
“tity Support staff. The
2409, With enrolment al-
elow their projec-
» has committed it-

the symptoms of

of losing $1,250,000 when

Unemployment and -

Students were prominent i

Canada against the U.S. war-making

self to expenditures which could
exceed their known resources.

@ The unemployment rate for
people under 25, despite the fed-
eral government’s Opportunities
for Youth Program and the pro-
mised economic upswing, was
higher in July (10.8%) and
August (9.1%) this year than a
year ago.

® University of Alberta had
1,200 less students than the ex-
pected 19,000, and have been
subsidibed by the provincial
government so that they will lose
no more than $500,000 this year.

®@ The Kingston city council
asked the Ontario government
to tighten up its welfare legis-
lation when the councillors dis-
covered that 100 of the 301 sin-
gle men drawing social assist-
ance in that city where under
20 years of age.

Donald MacDonald, presi-
dent of the Canadian Labor Con-
gress, pointed out that the fed-
eral government’s “Employee
Support Bill’ would not help
stave unemployment caused by
the U.S. import surcharge. The
American government could
counteract this immediately by
implementing its “Countervail-
ing Tariff Law” which prevents
subsidized industries from un-
dercutting American market
prices. And, after all, the States
control North American indus-
tries and markets, and they’re
trying to ‘keep unemployment
down in their country, too.

e Laurentian University in
Sudbury froze its budget for 30
days to study the implications

mo

only

2 the Nov. 3 and also Nov. 6 demonstrations in Torento es throughout
—but jobs as well as peace are needed for life.

2,100 students (100 less than
last year) enrolled.

© McMaster University at Wa-
terloo and Carleton University
at Ottawa are studying their
budget trying to juggle their
finances to keep the books bal-

- anced in the face of surprising

under-enrolment.

It is general knowledge that
unemployment hits people in
the lower-income bracket the
hardest for a variety of reasons.
They are unable to compete for
many jobs because they lack
education. Thus, they are the
most expendable and the least
able to protect themselves.

But what few people realize
is that unemployment is also a
serious problem among those un-
der 25. Even when the Canadian
economy is going full-tilt at near-
zero unemployment, the young
are beset by consistently high
unemployment. Youth unem-
ployment for the past 20 years,
has been an average of 100%
higher than the national aver-
age.

This discrepancy has been
getting greater during the past
decade as the ratio of youth
unemployment to overall unem-
ployment has risen slowly but
steadily.

Couple this with the fact that
overall unemployment has been
getting worse and worse over
the past decade (last year’s na-
tional unemployment rate of
5.9% is the highest since 1962),
and the problem facing today’s
youthful worker becomes clear.

A quick breakdown: unem-
ployment among males from 14

og e. % ag

a a.

to 19 last year was 15.0%, the
highest since 1961; among males
20-24 it was 10.5% (the highest
since 1961); among females 14-
19 it was 11.4% (the highest
ever); and among females 20-24
it was 5.1% (highest ever).

But all these statistics are
from Statistics Canada’s conser-
vative reports. There is also a
large percentage of youths who
constitute a hidden or disguised
unemployment group.

When the Canadian economy
is on a downswing (a situation
that happens with frightening
regularity) and there are fewer
jobs, a significant number of
young people,
males, withdraw from active
participation in the labor force.
Some of these people return to
school, some leave to see the
world, but most are classified by
Statistics Canada as “retired,”
— i.e. neither working nor seek-
ing work.

This factor raises the true un-
employment figures for youth by
two or three full percentage
points. For example, the unem-
ployment rate for males aged 14
to 19 in March 1971 was listed
at 17.5%. In reality the percent-
age was about 22.6% unemploy-
ed.

So, you might ask, if the labor
market is so bad, why don’t they
go back to school? Unfortunate-
ly, when the economy slumps,
that option gets removed as
well. Universities have only
three sources of income: stu-
dents, government and industry.
If the economy is slow, govern-
ment and industry tighten their
belts and dish our fewer riches
to universities.

And universities, with smaller
subsidies, have to limit enrol-
ment by raising admission stan-
dards, or else raise tuition fees
so that students themselves have
to pay more. While all this is
going on, of course, the would-
be student cannot find a sum-
mer job and thus has no money.

In the spring of 1971, the gov-
ernment had another brain-
storm. They would keep thé stu-
dent unemployment problem in
isolation, and unleash a $23.3
million windfall from the Secre-
tary of State’s office under the
guise of ‘Opportunities for
Youth.”

More than 27,000 kids spent
the summer picking up garbage
in parks, creating community
newspapers and journals, doing
research on community planning

especially fe-

louth on half of our unemployed

and pollution, and using up $23.3
million in non-permanent and
generally counterproductive
ways. (There were exceptions;
some very productive projects
were carried out).

Has is worked? Of course not:
youth unemployment this sum-
mer was higher than ever.

There ARE reasons for youth
unemployment. And the govern-
ment is going to have to face up
to them before it is too late.
These reasons are connected
fully to the basic definitions of
university education and em-
ployment. When North American
society continues on the basis
of four-years-of-liberal-education-
for-everyone and then throws
the unskilled graduate into the
labor force to sell his labor, then
there are going to be problems
whenever the economic situation
is below normal.

In 1969 when a record 66,000
degrees were issued, the total
number of graduatés hired actu-
ally declined, especially among
graduates from the arts.

Why are Canadian graduates
unemployable? The answer to
this is again to be found in
an overview of our national eco-
nomics. Lack of research cuts
down on the employment poten-
tial of industry. Most Canadian
industries are no more than
branch plants of American cor-
porations, and most of the re-
search done by these corpora-
tions is done in the U.S.

Another reason for the unem-
ployability of Canadian grads is
the surplus of teachers and pro-
fessors. The teacher shortage of
the last generation for primary
and secondary schools is rapidly
giving way to a surplus. In post-
secondary institutions, the lack
of research and teaching posi-
tions make jebs few and far
between.

And with a university degree,
particularly on the masters or
doctoral level, the job market
looks pretty gloomy when there
are no opportunities for teach-
ing and research.

There are also reasons why
young people without. degrees
do not get jobs. Other than the
young workers themselves being
choosy about jobs (after all,
they usually don’t have families
to support), workers under 25
do not have any seniority rights

. in industry and they are rarely

unionized.

So they tend to get hired for
short term work, by construc-
tion firms or by companies with
unpredictable seasonal fluctua-
tions; and in times of recession
they are the first to be laid off.

YCL PROTEST

Prime Minister J. B. Vorster
of South Africa received the
following telegram of protest
from the Central’ Executive
Committee of the Young Com-
munist League:

“Canadian young Commun-
ists are horrified at the tortur-
ing and killing of young South
African democrats by South
African police. Recently a
youth, Ahmed Timol was tor-
tured and thrown to his death
from a 10th story window, and
another young man, Moha-
med Essop was tortured and
is in critical condition in hos-
pital.

“We protest the mass raids,
tortures and murder of demo-
cratic: opponents of the racist
and fascist policies generated
by your regime and we de-
mand that your government
immediately stop these repres-
sive and uncivilized practices.”

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1971—PAGE 9