The transition from school to work: the NEET (not in employment, education or training) indicator for 20- to 24-year-olds in Canada

This fact sheet presents the NEET indicator for young people aged 20 to 24. Data from the Labour Force Survey are used to classify young people according to three mutually exclusive categories: young people in education, young people who work and no longer attend school, and young people who are NEETs, that is, not in employment or education. For young people aged 20 to 24 in 2018/2019 we find that: (1) 45 per cent were no longer in school and were working, while 43 per cent were still in school. Women were more likely to be in school than men, whereas men were more likely to be working and no longer in school; (2) 287,400 (12 per cent) were NEETs, with rates ranging between 10 per cent and 17 per cent among the provinces; (3) 37 per cent of those who did not have their high school diploma were in a NEET situation, a proportion that was higher among women (47 per cent) than men (30 per cent); (4) A low proportion have children, but the presence of children in households significantly affects the participation of women in the labour market; (5) Aboriginal youth (excluding those on reserves) have higher NEET rates than youth overall for both women and men; (6) immigrants were more likely to be studying and less likely to be employed and no longer in school than non‑immigrants; (7) NEET rates were generally not significantly different between population centres and rural areas; (8) Most NEETs aged 20 to 24 who were out of the labour force did not want a job and (9) NEETs were more likely than employed young people or students to have a partner who was also NEET.

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