New measure covers 'not in employment, education or training, excluding short transitions' (NEETEST)
Four studies released by Statistics Canada found long-term earnings penalties for disengaged youth, certification and earnings gaps for immigrant apprentices, and child care access barriers among vulnerable families.
Statistics Canada introduced a new measure, "not in employment, education or training, excluding short transitions" (NEETEST), which it says "acknowledges caregiving as a productive activity and excludes short transitions by focusing on full calendar years of disengagement."
Men who experienced NEETEST in 2017 earned $37,800 less five years later than non-NEETEST peers, StatCan reported, while the earnings gap for women was $31,200.
Affected men and women were also 7.6 and 10.4 percentage points less likely, respectively, to be enrolled in postsecondary education five years later, with results holding after controls for demographics and background.
Federal figures show the scale of the challenge has grown: Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) reported that the number of NEET youth aged 15 to 29 rose by 201,800 since 2023, reaching approximately 914,000 in 2025, or 11.5% of the youth population.
Immigrant apprenticeship certification
A second study compared certification outcomes for childhood immigrants — those admitted to Canada before age 18 — with Canadian-born apprentices and journeypersons.
Childhood immigrants "remained 3 to 5 percentage points less likely to obtain certification than their Canadian-born counterparts" after accounting for sociodemographic, employment, income and program factors, StatCan found, adding that income levels, regional differences and pre-registration credits explained part of the gap.
Male childhood immigrant journeypersons earned 7% to 10% less than Canadian-born male counterparts before, at and after certification, Statistics Canada said, while no consistent earnings gap was found among female journeypersons after controls.
Immigrant and Canadian-born family wealth
A third StatCan study examined the joint distribution of income and wealth among immigrant and Canadian-born families, finding more than 1 in 6 recent immigrant families fell into the lowest quartiles of both income and wealth.
The wealth gap widened at higher income levels and persisted even after controlling for homeownership, pension coverage and inheritance, while established immigrant families showed economic well-being comparable with or exceeding that of Canadian-born families.
Recent immigrant families were also more likely to be concentrated at the lower end of the income-wealth distribution generally, with relatively few positioned at the top, Statistics Canada said.
All these point to a possible harm to workers’ financial wellness. When we talk about financial wellness, we’re referring to an ecosystem of things that ladder up to how we are feeling physically and mentally about our bank accounts, according to Karim Nanji, CEO at Marble Financial and ‘MyMarble’; a platform for financial wellness solutions.
Financial stress can cost employers close to $2,000 ($1,786) per employee in lost productivity and absenteeism, accordingt to a previous report. This can sum up to $178,600 for small employers with 10 to 100 employees, up to $891,214 for medium-size businesses with 101 to 499 employees, and more than $893,000 for large employers with 500 employees or more.
Child care access
A fourth StatCan study, drawing on the 2023 Canadian Survey on Early Learning and Child Care, examined child care use among vulnerable families, including low-income, single-parent, racialized, Indigenous, rural and same-gender parent households.
Statistics Canada found that 47% of children in low-income families, 56% in racialized families and 59% in Indigenous families participated in regular non-parental child care, compared with 64% of children overall.
These families were more likely to rely on evening or weekend care, Statistics Canada said, and more likely to report employment impacts including postponing a return to work, reducing hours or changing jobs due to access difficulties.
Here’s what HR professionals can do about these workforce risks, according to different sources:
|
Workforce Risk |
Instructions to Employers |
Source |
|
Youth disengagement (NEETEST) |
Partner with local youth employment agencies to offer structured, paid work-integrated learning placements instead of relying only on entry-level postings, since NEET youth aged 15 to 29 have grown by 201,800 since 2023 to roughly 914,000. Build hiring plans that account for youth being disproportionately concentrated in cyclically vulnerable sectors, as it took a full decade for youth employment to recover after the 2008-09 recession. |
ESDC, Canadian HR Reporter, Nov. 2025; ESDC Question Period Note |
|
Immigrant certification gaps |
Direct immigrant hires in regulated trades and professions toward Ottawa's Foreign Credential Recognition Program, which is maintaining 58 federal-provincial agreements in 2026-27 to support roughly 32,000 internationally trained professionals through loans and Canadian work-experience placements. Pair credential-loan referrals with structured mentorship, since employer bias toward Canadian degrees and local experience remains an informal but consequential barrier beyond formal licensing. |
CIC News, Apr. 2026; RefPIC |
|
Immigrant wealth and retirement gaps |
Enrol immigrant employees in workplace pension plans as early as possible rather than waiting for retirement-age interventions, since private pension income has declined for recent immigrant cohorts even as long-tenured native-born workers saw employer pension gains. Offer a workplace pension where possible, given 82% of surveyed Canadians said they are more likely to accept a job that includes one, and tailor pension communications to reflect diverse cultural attitudes toward money and retirement. |
Canadian Journal on Aging; Benefits and Pensions Monitor, June 2026 |
|
Child care access barriers |
Offer flexible scheduling and dependent-care spending accounts for employees who fall outside subsidized child care access, since 41% of parents who could not secure care postponed their return to work and others reduced hours or changed schedules. Support continued expansion of the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care system, as expanded access in British Columbia added roughly 33,000 full-time-equivalent workers to the provincial labour supply between 2019 and 2025. |
Early Childhood Education Report ; Centre for Future Work, June 2025; IFEBP |
Here’s how employers can help improve workers’ financial wellness, according to a previous report.
