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4.1 Work Experience

4.1.1 Career Development

SCP provides slightly more "career opportunity" and financial support than "work experience".

Just over half (54.6%) of participants felt strongly (a rating of 4 or 5) that their summer job was related to their career choice compared to 29.3% who felt that it did not (a rating of 1 or 2).

Still, 89.4% of participants felt strongly (a rating of 4 or 5) that their summer job increased their understanding of what is expected in a work situation compared to only 2.4% who felt that it did not (a rating of 1 or 2).

For 38.3% of the participants, their summer job confirmed their career choices.

Both participants and employers felt strongly that SCP participants gained new skills.

The majority of participants (80.3%) felt strongly (a rating 4 or 5) that they gained new skills on their summer job compared to just 9.6% who felt the opposite (a rating of 1 or 2). Employers felt somewhat more strongly about this than did participants — 88.7% gave a rating of 4 or 5 compared to just 2.0% who gave a rating of 1 or 2.

4.1.2 Incrementality

While the information collected suggests that the program has resulted in the creation of many new jobs, incrementality can be weakened — for a number of reasons — both with respect to the job created and with respect to the job opportunity.

More than two-thirds (69.0%) of the employers surveyed stated that they would not have hired a student this summer had the wage subsidy not been available.

The majority (56.9%) of participants felt that their summer job was incremental while one in five (20.3%) did not (22.8% were not sure or did not know).

More than a third (36.1%) of employers said that the work done by their SCP student would have been postponed or not done had they not been able to hire the student.

As many as a third (33.3%) of SCP participants may have displaced other workers who would have replaced permanent workers who are on "normal" leave (e.g., pregnancy leave, sick leave, summer vacation).

Excluding employers who would not have hired a student if the wage subsidy had not been available (69.0%), almost two-fifths (37.2%) of the remainder said that they would not have paid the same wages to their student if they had not received any assistance from the SCP (presumably they would have paid less). This compares with almost three-fifths (57.3%) who would have paid the same wages.

More than a third (37.2%) of employers hired more than one student through SCP.

While almost all HRDC staff felt that the jobs were incremental in the not-for-profit sector, several of the staff suggested that "we may have created a dependency." This can occur in all sectors, but it may impact the not-for-profit and public sectors more because the subsidies are relatively high and uninterrupted funding may deter them from searching for alternative sources of funding (e.g., charity drives, grants).

4.1.3 Future Job Opportunities

The majority (71.3%) of participants feel that their summer job will help them get full-time work in their chosen field compared to 19.7% who do not think it will help (9.0% are unsure or don't know).

Almost all (95.2%) employers feel that the summer employment experience of the SCP student will improve his/her chances of finding a full-time job after completing school. The remainder were split between don't know (2.6%) and no (2.2%).

Almost two-thirds (63.0%) of the employers surveyed said that their organization intended to re-hire their SCP student at a later date.

Almost four fifths (80.8%) of the employers who will be offering a job will be offering a job for the summer of 1997. Of the remaining 12.6%, 15.6% said they were considering a full-time job after graduation while 10.5% were considering a full-time job right away. The remaining 72.2% were considering a part-time job during the coming school year.

4.1.4 Sector

Encouraging private sector participation this year may have weakened the overall work experience — both career development and incrementality — of the program.

Participants in the non-profit sector felt most strongly (a rating of 4 or 5) that their summer job was related to their career choice (65.9%). This compares with ratings of 58.6% for the public sector and 40.5% for the private sector.

Participants in the non-profit sector felt most strongly (a rating of 4 or 5) that they gained new skills from their summer job (87.8%). This compares with ratings of 81.4% for the public sector and 74.6% for the private sector.

More than four-fifths (81.9%) of surveyed employers in the not-for-profit sector stated that they would not have hired a student this summer had the wage subsidy not been available. This is more prevalent than in the public (64.3%) and private (50.0%) sectors.

The private sector tends to pay somewhat better than the other two sectors: 31.6% of private sector employers paid $8.00 or more per hour to their SCP student. This compares to 26.2% in the non-profit sector and 19.3% in the public sector.

The non-profit sector (78.6%) employed proportionately more post-secondary students than did the private (69.7%) and public (67.1%) sectors.

However, it should be noted that, although the experience gained by SCP participants in the private sector may not have been as career-oriented as jobs in the other two sectors, as the largest employer in the country, it may be better positioned to offer jobs in the future.

4.1.5 Education

Post-secondary students had a more favorable perception of the program's benefits to them than high school students.

Post-secondary students felt most strongly (a rating of 4 or 5) that their summer job was related to their career choice (ratings ranging between 54.0% and 59.3%) compared to high schools students (28.7%). This may be due, in part, to post-secondary students having a clearer set of career expectations.

Similarly, post-secondary students were more likely to feel strongly (a rating of 4 or 5) that their summer job increased their understanding of what is expected in a work situation (ratings around 90%) compared to high school students (rating of 32.7%).

Post-secondary students felt more strongly (a rating of 4 or 5) that their summer job gave them new skills (ratings around 80%) compared to high school students (rating of 36.1%).

Post-secondary students (59.6%) were more likely to think that their job was incremental than high school students (48.8%).

4.2 Program Efficiency

4.2.1 Timeliness

Employers and staff commented on the lateness of the Ministerial Announcement. They suggest that a "regular" announcement — taking place no later than a week or two before spring break every year — would go a long way towards helping businesses and students plan. Other HRDC programs are not hindered by this.

Since 1986 the time period between the announcement date and the application deadline has dropped from about 13 weeks to just 4 in 1996 (which is somewhat better than the 3 weeks available in 1993). In reality, however, employers do not have all 4 weeks as HRCC staff need part of it to prepare application packages, etc.

The timeliness of the approval process caused employers the most concern with the administration of the program.

Reducing the amount of time taken to approve applications was the number one suggestion from employers about how to improve the program. More than a fifth (21.5%) stated this concern and another 6.0% said that businesses should be allowed to apply earlier.

While most key informant employers said they were informed soon enough to recruit participants as planned, many experienced delays which caused them difficulty finding students (either losing the best candidate for the job or having to replace a post-secondary student with a high school student). They also noted that some students had to accept other, perhaps less career-related, jobs because they could not wait for the HRDC decision — they needed enough "employment" to finance their return to school. HRDC staff felt that lateness diminished the quality of the service they provided to employers.

4.2.2 Marketing

Very few new employers enter the SCP program as most HRDC staff do not formally market the program.

Almost half (45.7%) the employers heard about the SCP because they had participated in the program in previous years. Another fifth (18.2%) learned about the program through the HRCC office.

However, staff report that program awareness among potential new employers could be improved.

More than four-fifths (86.1%) of employers surveyed were very satisfied with the ease of the application process (versus only 3.3% who were very dissatisfied).

4.2.3 Recruitment

About two-fifths (40.4%) of the employers used the HRCCs for Students to hire a student and a few of them (2.8%) felt that the HRCC's screening of the students could be improved.

By way of contrast, only 12.6% of participants reported that they heard about their job from a posting at (6.9%) or a referral from (5.7%) an HRCC for Students.

Participants were highly aware of the program (78.0%) and the federal government's subsidization of their job (85.3%).

4.2.4 Employer Costs

Employers do not incur any significant administrative costs as a consequence of the current wage subsidy process.

Many employers in the key informant interviews said that they only incur the normal costs of employing an employee and applying for and administering the program. They said that the latter were minimal. HRDC staff concurred.

Most employers (79.5%) were very satisfied (rating of 4 or 5) with the current method of paying the wage subsidy to employers.

4.2.5 Monitoring

The regions displayed divergent views on monitoring ranging from 10% to 100%.

Some monitor "high risk" employers — those for which there is some concern (for whom some complaint may have been received) — and also new employers to ensure that they do not make mistakes.

4.2.6 Roles and Responsibilities

While both employers and HRDC staff noted that the roles and responsibilities of the various HRDC players were clearly understood, HRDC staff expressed some concerns about the role of the Members of Parliament.

The program has been operating since 1985 and both employers and HRDC staff have come to know it well.

HRDC staff suggested that MPs be better briefed on their review role.

In general, neither employers nor HRDC staff felt that the SCP constituted a partnership between the government and employers. Similarly, neither side really saw an extended "leadership role" for employers.

4.2.7 Alternatives

In general, both employers and HRDC staff held mixed views about the need to change the wage subsidy.

More than half (55.7%) of the employers surveyed felt that the wage subsidy should remain as it is, which is the same for both large and small employers. Similarly, almost half (52.1%) of the employers surveyed felt that the wage subsidy should change and become the same for both private sector and non-profit employers. And, in general, employers felt that raising the wage subsidy would be unrealistic and that lowering it would eliminate the incentive for some.

HRDC staff felt that there was some room to reconsider the size of the wage subsidy, particularly at the private sector level.

4.3 Profiles

4.3.1 Employers

More than half (51.6%) of the employers using the SCP came from the non-profit sector. Another third (31.0%) came from the private sector while the remaining fifth (17.4%) came from the public sector.

This is very similar to the participant survey — Private (29.6%), Public (21.2%), Not-for-profit (44.3%), and Don't know (4.9%) — especially if adjusted for the other and don't know categories.

Employers surveyed were generally small — 36.0% had four or fewer employees, while another 28.4% had five to ten employees.

Almost one-fifth (20.1%) of the employers in the survey did not hire any students in the summer of 1995.

Almost two-thirds (62.7%) of the employers surveyed hired just one student under the SCP this summer. Another fifth (21.3%) hired two students under the program while a tenth (10.5%) hired three or four. Of the remaining 5.4%, almost half (2.5%) employed five or six students.

As mentioned above, 62.7% of all employers surveyed hired only one SCP student. In 82.6% of these cases, it is the only student they hired. This means that 51.8% of all surveyed employers hired no additional student.

The private sector (76.9%) had proportionately more "one-SCP student" employers than either the public (56.6%) or the non-profit sectors (56.3%).

More than four-fifths (85.5%) of the employers provided their SCP student with some training — mostly on-the-job training/coaching/mentoring (49.5%).

Employers in the survey report hiring a total of 4,128 students, almost half (47.6%) of whom were subsidized by SCP.

4.3.2 Participants

Almost two-thirds (65.9%) of the participants are female compared to one-third (34.1%) male.

The dominance of females among SCP participants is associated with the bulk of the employment being in the not-for-profit (which employs 73.1% females) and public (which employs 80.7% females) sectors. By way of contrast, the private sector tends to be more balanced (52.8% males versus 47.8% females).

A little more than two-fifths (41.2%) of the participants are between 15 and 19 years of age, almost half (46.6%) are 20 to 24 years of age, while the remaining 12.0% are more than 24 years of age.

Some 71.0% of participants reported attending a post-secondary institution in September 1995 compared to 25.6% who attended high school. About 3.3% of the participants did neither.

Some 92.4% of SCP participants will be returning to school in September 1996. Of the 7.3% not returning, almost half (48.4%) will be looking for work instead.

Almost one-third (31.0%) of those going to a post-secondary institution will complete their current degree or diploma in one year, while most of the rest expect to take two (24.7%) or three (22.1%) years. About one in five (21.5%) expect to take four years or more.

Some 4.2% of participants have disabilities. About 6.4% are aboriginal and, 6.7% are members of a visible minority.

4.4 Program Satisfaction

The vast majority (90.7%) of SCP students strongly liked or liked their summer job.

An insignificant number of students strongly disliked or disliked their summer job, while a small percentage (less than 9%) had mixed feelings.

The majority of participants (75.9%) felt strongly (a rating 4 or 5) that their employer acted as a mentor or coach.

Almost all employers (94.9%) were fully satisfied with the overall performance of their SCP student.

Only a small fraction (less than 3%) were not.

Similarly, almost all (93.5%) employers felt that the work provided by their SCP student to the organization added value. Only a fraction (1.6%) did not.

4.5 Continuing Need

Almost every participant thought that a government program that tries to prepare students for full-time jobs through summer work experience was a good idea.

Almost every employer (98.6%) would be interested in applying should the SCP, or a similar program, be available next summer.