Other Press Other Feature March 5, 1990 Challenge ‘90 - The Real Story More and more jobs are making post-secon- dary education a prerequisite, and yet the federal government has once again cut funding for its job creation program for secondary and post- secondary students -- this time by $41 million. The Canadian Federation of Students predicts the cuts to the summer-job portion of the youth employment program will mean about 24,000 summer jobs lost. For a lot of students, finding work this summer will, indeed, be a chal- lenge, as CUP President Deanne Fisher and Ubyssey editor Franka Cordua von Specht write. by Deanne Fisher and Franka Cordua von Specht OTTAWA -- For the second year in a row, the federal government is playing Robin Hood, stealing money from a summer employment program for returning students and giving it to potential high school drop-outs. Federal Employment and immigration minister Barbara McDougall recently announced a 35 per cent cut in the Summer Employment/Experience Development (SEED) program, from $118 million last year, to $77 million this year. The money from the SEED program -- which gives com- panies and organizations grants to hire high school and post-secondary students for the summer -- will go to programs designed to keep high school students from drop- ping out. McDougall’s new "stay-school-initiative" will cost $300 over the next five years, and all the money will come from cuts to existing programs, like SEED. McDougall called Canada’s 30 per cent drop out rate for high school students "intolerable." She said the decreasing post-secondary student unemployment rate means students don’t need as much help from the federal government. "It became evident that the level of support we have provided to summer student employment in recent years could be more effectively used to encourage young people to stay in school," she said. But not everyone thinks post-secondary students don’t need help. MISLEADING UNEMPLOY- MENT FIGURES The Canadian Federation of Students estimates the cuts to SEED will cost about 24,000 summer jobs. CFS says stu- dents who can’t find summer jobs often end up borrowing more, and incurring more debt. In the summer of 1989, 8.1 per cent of post-secondary students were unemployed but the national figures are dis- torted by Ontario’s, and specifically Toronto’s, booming economy. i The unemployment rate in B.C. was 9.4 per cent, in Quebec it was 11.8 per cent and in the Atlantic provinces it was over | 1 per cent but -- in McDougall’s own words -- "in some metropolitan areas last summer there were more jobs than students to fill them." She was referring to her home riding which includes Toronto’s wealthy Forest Hill neigh- bourhood. And although the government has committed funds to a "youth strategies" program in Newfoundland and New Brunswick, all regions still face cuts in wage subsidies -- from 5 to 8 percent in the Atlantic, 20 per cent in the West and even higher in Ontario. CAREER-RELATED EX- PERIENCE Though the wages were traditionally low, the SEED pro- gram did try to provide students with career-related jobs -- something hard to come by in a summer job. : Jeff Ko had no experience in his field of psychology when he graduated last spring from the University of British Columbia. He spent eight months as an usher in B.C. Place Stadium and volunteered at a shelter for the homeless before securing a career-related position at the shelter. Ko is thankful he was able to live at home while gaining the volunteer experience he needed to get a job. And he thinks there should be more funding for jobs that relate to students’ studies. "We need to find something relevant to build a career," he says. Mark Foley is the manager of the government’s Challenge program, which includes SEED. He said many non-profit organizations which provide career-related summer employment take advantage of the subsidies and wouldn’t otherwise hire students. But Foley said, "We can’t operate the student employment programs based on the needs of non-profit organizations." Foley also said jobs in the non-profit sector weren’t popular with students. "If you’re a student in downtown Toronto where the going rate is $15 an hour, are you really going to work for mini- mum wage for a non-profit group? I don’t think so," he said. LOW WAGES Challenge grant wages are an issue in themselves and they have never satisfied the Canadian Federation of Students. A student employed by a Challenge ‘89 grant earned $2,332 before deductions. "This amount is not adequate for the real cost of attending a post- secondary institution,” says CFS chair Jane Arnold. Kathleen Kulpas knows that all too well. When she had a Chal- lenge job three summers ago, she was paid minimum wage and did not gain experience in her field, because the promised job title did not correspond with the gopher work she ended up doing. Under the program, employers are supposed to top up the minimum wage subsidy provided by the government. But many do not. "Unless you are working in a company that doubles it up, you are poorer usually than when you started work in May," says Kulpas, a single mother studying at the University of British Columbia. Kulpas thinks SEED grants are "useless. If they paid $12 an hoor and put students in touch with people in their field, then it would make sense." But as it exists now, Kulpas says the program makes the job statistics look good by taking students off the unemploy- ment lists. "It’s a great tool for the Conservatives. It serves their purpose beautifully." “AN ADVERTISING GIM- MICK" The job statistics are no longer enough to keep the Tories investing more money in the program. Under the program, employers are supposed to top up the minimum wage subsidy provided by the