Labour Market Transition: Barriers and Supports for First Generation Immigrant and Refugee Youth

Immigrant and refugee youth (IRY) face higher unemployment rates than their Canadian-born counterparts (Statistics Canada, 2016). The barriers IRY face in their labour market transition (Shields et al., 2006) and the consequences of youth unemployment (Hammarström, 1994) are well-known. Informal sources of employment supports, such as that provided by one’s social networks, can help with one’s job search; however, IRY are recognized as lacking access to a vast and resourceful social network (Lauer et al., 2012). Little is known about how IRY navigate formal employment supports. In contributing to this gap in the literature, this study found that while formal employment supports (employment centres and employment programs and services) were regarded to be helpful to IRY, there existed barriers in their abilities to access employment centres and negative experiences with EPS were raised. IRY’s multidimensional identities and social positions underpin their experiences in navigating employment and employment supports.