Newmarket-Aurora employers take note: deadline extended for Canada Summer Jobs funding

Employers, organizations have until Feb. 28 to apply; Non-profits can receive funding up to 100% of the minimum wage

Newmarkettoday.ca
February 26, 2020

Attention Newmarket and Aurora employers! You now have more time to apply for Canada Summer Jobs funding.

The application deadline has been extended to Feb. 28, 2020.

Newmarket-Aurora MP Tony Van Bynen this week shared the program’s extension details on his social media accounts.

The Canada Summer Jobs (CSJ) is part of the Government of Canada’s commitment to help young people -- particularly those facing barriers to employment -- get the information and gain the skills, work experience and abilities they need to transition successfully into the labour market.

The CSJ program helps employers create quality summer job opportunities and provide valuable work experience for youth aged 15 to 30. It also helps organizations hire youth in quality jobs during the busy summer months.

The CSJ 2020 call for proposals was launched on Jan. 30, 2020, and will close on Feb. 28, 2020.

The program provides wage subsidies to employers from not-for-profit organizations, the public sector, and private-sector organizations with 50 or fewer full-time employees, to create quality summer work experiences for young people aged 15 to 30 years.

As in 2019, funded employers are no longer restricted to hiring students: all youth aged 15 to 30 years may be eligible participants.

Not-for-profit employers are eligible to receive funding for up to 100 per cent of the provincial or territorial minimum hourly wage.

Public and private sector employers are eligible to receive funding for up to 50 per cent of the provincial or territorial minimum hourly wage.

In delivering on the program objectives, the federal government aims to ensure that youth job opportunities funded by the program take place in safe, inclusive, and healthy work environments free from harassment and discrimination.

Employers and youth participants will once again be asked to complete questionnaires to provide Service Canada with feedback on their Canada Summer Jobs experience. The employer questionnaire is mandatory and must be completed prior to submitting a payment claim.

It is also mandatory for employers to provide the youth participant questionnaire to youth employees funded by Canada Summer Jobs, although completion of the youth questionnaire remains voluntary.

Each year, applications for funding exceed the available funding. In 2019, for example, requests for funding totalled more than three times the program budget. Due to the oversubscription, not all eligible projects will receive funding.

Furthermore, those organizations that receive funding may not have received the level of funding requested, the amount of funding received in previous years, or the number of weeks requested.

In 2019, the average funded job duration was eight weeks and 35 hours per week.

Funds are distributed among the applicant organizations based on the results obtained during Service Canada's assessment of applications for quality of the job placement and from feedback provided by Members of Parliament during their review of the list of projects eligible for funding in each constituency.