Like thousands of young Canadians, Tanya Forrest is charting a new career path in this recession.
The 31-year-old engineer has abandoned her chosen field – in extractive metallurgy with mining and steel companies – and hopes to find stable employment in nursing. That's why the Hamilton resident is heading back to school.
“It was a big decision because I had already completed five years of university. And to face down the barrel of another four years … is quite depressing, financially,” she says of her decision, made after she was laid off at Stelco Inc.
The worst labour market in a decade is causing young workers to radically revisit their career plans. In many cases, they're tilting to the perceived stability of the public sector, such as health care and community services, according to enrolment data compiled by community colleges and universities.
“I have to look at long-term job security. And nursing absolutely has better job prospects,” Ms. Forrest explained, adding that in nursing, “you're really making a difference.”
Her view exemplifies a sea change for a generation who grew up in the longest economic expansion on record – a group that hasn't exactly viewed “reliable” and “stable” as prized job attributes.
Until last year, labour shortages meant people in their 20s and 30s could have their pick of jobs, wrangle higher salaries and hop from one position to another. Now, a deteriorating job market for young people is forcing a major rethink.
Nursing, paramedics, police foundations training, early childhood education, social work and fish-and-wildlife conservation are seeing the biggest jump in applications for fall terms in Ontario schools, according to Ontario College Application Service data.
“The public sector definitely seems stronger; people are seeing it as a growing area,” said John Curtis, registrar for Centennial College in Toronto. “We've got an aging population, so people are seeing it as a place to go.”
Some of the training shift began just before the economy unravelled. For the 2007-08 school year, the biggest jump in university enrolment was in health, parks, recreation and fitness fields, Statistics Canada reported this week. Enrolment fell in mathematics, computer and information sciences, and communication technologies.
Conversations with school registrars across the country suggest many young Canadians are targeting health care – specifically nursing – in the coming term. At the University of Manitoba, nursing applicants rose 15 per cent for this fall. At George Brown College in Toronto, it rose 10 per cent.
It's little wonder that nursing is seen as a safe harbour: An aging population and retiring work force mean the profession faces a shortfall of 60,000 nurses by 2022, the Canadian Nurses Association predicts.
The other hot area is community services. Centennial College has seen applications double this spring for personal support worker programs – people who want to provide care to the elderly, the disabled and to those with chronic illnesses. Other schools report heightened interest in early childhood education, social work, and housing and children's services.
Several factors explain the widespread shift to the public sector, said Elizabeth Holland, managing partner at Career Council, a career advice firm that has recorded a 12-per-cent increase in young people moving into the public sector over the past year.
“One is the economy. Two is the change in the attitude of young people. They're looking not just at money as their main focus – they want to give back to the community,” Ms. Holland said.
“Young people have seen their parents laid off, their families go through change and stress, and whether they're conscious of that or not, they're looking for more security,” she said. “And that's often in the public sector.”
For many young people, that means hitting the books. Others are moving into unexpected self-employment.
