Over the past several months, we’ve been exploring a connected set of questions about Niagara’s future workforce. This has included
- How is the region’s population changing?
- Are young people connecting to employment?
- How are skill needs evolving?
We’ve seen that the population is getting younger with more young professionals choosing to live and work in the region, so it’s important to understand how youth labour market engagement evolves along with these changes. We noted that while there are improving signs of youth labour market participation right now, having younger people in (and moving into) the region doesn’t mean there’s always clear pathways to employment.
Most recently, we explored a skills-first approach to hiring, asking what happens when we focus less exclusively on credentials and previous job titles and more on the skills people have – and how those skills can transfer between opportunities.
New Employment Ontario data provide another lens to look at this – how are youth engaging with the employment and training system?
What Are We Seeing Across Employment Ontario?
Earlier in the year, data on enrollment into Employment Ontario service programs were updated. These programs are one part of the broader system that helps people prepare for work, build skills, navigate career transitions, and connect with employers. In Niagara, we’ve seen some shifts over the past 5 years:
- Integrated Employment Services (IES) clients increased by 64.7%
- GetSET learners increased by 33.4%
- New apprenticeship registrations increased by 24.7%; and Active apprentices increased by 27.2%
- Declines in Canada Ontario Job Grant and Better Jobs Ontario
Chart 1.1: Enrollment into Employment Ontario Services Programs
Source: Employment Ontario Data.
What Does Youth Participation Look Like?
While these overall numbers highlight engagement in these services, we’re particularly interested in what youth trends look like. Throughout 2025-2026 we saw
- 2,044 youth (aged 15-24) enrolled in Integrated Employment Services
- 487 youth in GetSET programs
- 505 youth in apprenticeship programs
- 25 youth participants in the Canada-Ontario Job Grant program
Compared to 5 years ago, youth participation has increased in all areas except COJG.
Chart 1.2: Youth Enrollment in Employment Ontario Services Programs
Source: Employment Ontario Data.
Given that we previously found that youth labour force participation and employment rates are tracking behind historical patterns, these data suggest that a growing number of youth are also accessing formal employment, foundational skills, and apprenticeship supports.
A Closer Look at Key Pathways
Integrated Employment Services
IES programs support people with job search, employment planning, training connections, and other employment-related needs. Across Niagara, most individuals who accessed IES programs were between the ages of 25-44 (51.0%). Clients were more often male (55.9%), a third of clients had a high-school diploma (33.8%), and the most common income source was Ontario works (33.3%).
Integrated Employment Services provide one point of connection between this data and the questions we’ve been exploring throughout this series. If employers are increasingly thinking about skills, transferable experience, and alternative pathways into work, employment services can play an important role in helping jobseekers identify those skills, communicate them to employers, and connect to training where gaps exist.
GetSET
GetSET programs provide another important piece of the skills pathway, supporting people in developing foundational skills for employment, further education and training, and greater independence. Youth participation in GetSET has grown considerably over the past five years, increasing from 317 learners in 2021–22 to 487 in 2025–26 – an increase of 53.6%. This growth has outpaced the increase in GetSET participation overall (33.4%).
This is particularly relevant as we think about changing skill needs. While conversations about workforce skills often focus on emerging technologies or specialized technical abilities, foundational skills remain an important part of helping people adapt, continue learning, and move between education, training and employment. Growing youth engagement with GetSET suggests these programs are an increasingly important part of Niagara’s youth employment and skills ecosystem.
Apprenticeships
Apprenticeship offers another valuable pathway to employment. Youths made up the largest age cohort of new apprenticeship registrations, at 356 (57.1%) registrants. The average age of registrants was 25 years old.
New registrants were predominately male youth, making up nearly 81% of the total cohort for 2025-2026. By trades, new registrants were mainly divided into
- electricians – construction and maintenance (20.5%)
- automotive service technicians (14.1%)
- hairstylists (11.1%).
Chart 4.1: Top Trades by New Registrants, Niagara vs Ontario
Source: Employment Ontario Data.
Looking Ahead
As Niagara’s population continues to get younger and the labour market evolves, it’s important to ensure that youth have clear pathways into employment, training, and skilled, long-term employment.
Growth in youth participation across EO programs over the past five years suggests that more young people are engaging with supports that can help them enter and navigate the labour market. Looking ahead, continued attention to how youth access these programs, their employment and outcome statuses, will be central for understanding Niagara’s shifting labour market.
Strengthening connections between youth, training opportunities, and local employers can help ensure that a younger population translates into a stronger and more responsive local labour supply.
These are questions we’ll be exploring through the Niagara Workforce Coalition, as partners consider how training and development opportunities across the workforce system can be better integrated with learning and training systems and evolving employer needs.