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Program Description

One of seven programs under the Youth Employment Strategy, Youth Service Canada (YSC) is the official name given to the youth service corps announced in the Speech from the Throne in January 1994. YSC is designed to provide unemployed and out-of-school youths between 15 and 30 years of age an opportunity — within a project that typically lasts 6 to 9 months — to gain relevant work-related experience.

Projects are run by not-for-profit sponsor organizations that have developed proposals approved by HRDC. Sponsors are expected to assist youth with planning career choices, improving employability and making a successful transition to the labour market or return to school.

YSC’s terms and conditions have been made increasingly flexible to accommodate regional and local variation. Youth may receive a weekly stipend, a completion grant or a combination of these to equal compensation that is no greater than $10,000 per project participant. Human Resources Centres of Canada (HRCCs) have the choice of transferring the administration of the completion grant to sponsors or retaining it themselves.

From the beginning of fiscal year 1994-95 to the end of fiscal year 1996-97 — the period covered by this evaluation — there were 8,237 youth participants. Including departmental overheads, budgetary costs averaged $8,277 per participant; costs to project sponsors, other community organizations and the private sector (both in-kind and financial) were estimated at $795 per participant.

Program Objectives

The objectives of YSC are to provide young Canadians with the opportunity to:

• acquire real work experience;
• learn or enhance transferable job-related skills;
• develop personal qualities and skills such as self-esteem, self-reliance, leadership, communication and teamwork;
• contribute to their community and country; and
• promote knowledge and awareness of community issues.

Achievement of overall program objectives is indicated by the extent to which participants either find or create a job, or continue their education once their project has ended.

Evaluation Approach

To address the evaluation issues, five main sources of information were used:

Key informant interviews

Personal interviews were conducted with 8 HRDC staff in headquarters, in addition to a combination of telephone and personal interviews with staff in Regional Offices (12) and in HRCCs (11). These interviews mainly examined program design and delivery.

Fax survey of project sponsors and coordinators

Approximately equal numbers of completions were achieved from sponsors (47) and coordinators (49). The survey instrument collected information on the strengths and weaknesses of YSC, the achieved objectives and suggestions for change.

Follow-up survey of project applicants

A telephone survey obtained useful information on the experience of participants (N = 908) during and after the project and overall levels of satisfaction with the project. Comparable labour market and personal experience information was obtained from non-participants (N = 334).

Program documentation

The review included literature describing the program, as well as cost data and basic descriptive data for individual projects. Of special importance was the baseline survey data, which allowed pre- and post-project comparisons of participants and non-participants.

Focus groups with representatives of sponsoring and non-participating organizations

Focus groups were held with sponsors and coordinators from participating organizations at four sites across Canada. One focus group was held with representatives of non-participating youth organizations in Metropolitan Toronto. Discussion centred on impacts on youth and suggestions for program improvement.

Key Findings

YSC projects responded well to participants’ needs

Youth perceived personal development as the major benefit coming from their projects. Sponsors and coordinators agreed and almost invariably pointed to team building and leadership skills as the core project activities with the greatest benefits. Career plans were developed in almost 75% of projects. Two-thirds of participants going on to school or training credited a career plan developed in the project for the decision.

Youth satisfaction with YSC is high

YSC projects did well in attracting their target populations. Also, key informants, sponsors and coordinators agree that participants like their projects. Relatively high retention rates and very high satisfaction ratings by youth participants (an average of 6.45 on a 7-point scale) confirm this assessment.

When the few dissatisfied youth (less than 8%) were asked about what they did not like, they mentioned most frequently the coordinator and the project organization. This underscores the widely acknowledged importance of a good project design, a clear commitment from the sponsoring organization, and a strong and dedicated coordinator to ensure the success of a project.

Very few programs like YSC exist for youth

Sponsors, coordinators, key informants and representatives of non-participating youth organizations all confirm the literature review: there are very few youth projects in their area comparable to YSC in objectives or approach. Team projects with an emphasis on raising youths’ awareness of community issues and bringing tangible benefits to those communities are rare.

YSC projects appear to be well suited for communities with few employers. The other federal and provincial youth programs most commonly available are wage subsidies and summer employment programs.

Key informants view YSC as a good model

Everyone consulted sees YSC as a good model of a youth employment program. The terms and conditions of the program have been amended since start-up as a result of lessons learned from the lead sites evaluation, feedback from departmental officials and the general decentralization process in HRDC.

No single burning issue needs to be addressed from the perspective of youth participants. HRDC respondents, who are much more satisfied with YSC since the new terms and conditions, were concerned about “under-resourcing” of the Youth Employment Initiative and requested the continuation of nationally-sponsored workshops for project coordinators.

Sponsors would like to see more time to prepare for projects, longer projects, more money to cover overhead costs and financial support from HRDC for coordinator training.

Both participating and non-participating youth organizations stressed that projects aimed at “high-risk” youth inevitably require more resources.

Project leavers often did so to take a job or go back to school

Early dropouts from YSC left most often to take a job, but negative reactions to the coordinator or the program and practical personal problems were also factors for some.

Employment opportunities and return to school were the most frequently mentioned reasons for a small number of youth who left a short time before the project ended. Relatively few youth left because of financial problems.

Economic analyzes yielded mainly neutral but consistent results over the short term

Participation in YSC had no statistically significant effect for the period studied on annualized earnings, weekly wages, hours worked per week or annual social assistance benefits. In other words, the estimates of the program’s effect on these measures could easily have resulted from random variation or chance, and cannot be reliably attributed to participation in YSC.

In the short term, project participants spent less time in the labour force and less time employed than would have been the case in the absence of the YSC experience. This is accounted for by their statistically significant increase in post-program time spent in school (most youth participants) or in training. Participation in YSC also reduced reliance on employment insurance benefits.

HRDC plans to follow up with YSC participants to test the economic and employment impacts of the program over the long term.

Comparison with non-participants showed that YSC youth enjoyed the social impacts of participation