Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister speaks at a news conference after the 2021 budget was delivered at the Manitoba Legislative Building in Winnipeg on Wednesday, April 7, 2021. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/David Lipnowski)
WINNIPEG — The province is spending more than $25 million through two grants to help employ more than 8,000 youth this summer.
Premier Brian Pallister announced Thursday the new Manitoba Youth Jobs Program, which will provide employers with a 50 percent subsidy on wages paid to eligible employees from May to September 2021, with a maximum of up to $25,000 per employer. The program comes at a cost of $15 million.
“Our new wage subsidy program will directly contribute to our government’s growth and jobs agenda outlined in Budget 2021 by supporting our businesses and organizations that will be the drivers of Manitoba’s economic recovery,” Pallister said.
Pallister anticipates the program will support more than 2,000 Manitoba employers recover from the pandemic and create sustainable long-term, seasonal and short-term employment opportunities for more than 6,000 Manitoba youth.
The province will also spend more than $10 million in Green Team grant programs to help an estimated 2,000 young Manitobans find summer employment. This includes nearly $9 million for the Urban and Hometown Green Team Program and more than $1 million for the Manitoba Parks Green Team.
Urban and Hometown Green Team grants allow communities to hire youth aged 15 to 29 to work on community projects between May 1 and September 30. Non-profit organizations in Winnipeg and rural Manitoba are eligible to receive 100 percent of wage costs and $250 per position for support costs, while eligible municipal governments in rural Manitoba receive 50 percent of wage costs and $125 per position for support costs, on a cost-shared basis.
