Experience Ontario Government Grants for Hiring and Training Youth
In Ontario many youth face pressure when deciding which industry or specific role they would like to begin their careers in. For high school students within Ontario, this decision can be extraordinarily difficult because their previous work experience does little to prepare them for what lies ahead after high school or after post-secondary education. As discussed in an earlier blog post, there are many reasons to hire youth workers and they can benefit your company tremendously. In addition, there is a dedicated funding from both the provincial and federal governments to assist in the hiring of youth. This article will discuss three hiring funding programs that will help your business create positions to give youth workers more career experience.
Experience Ontario Government Grants to Hire Recent High School Graduates
The Ontario Ministry of Education will be piloting a new program this year which aims to provide recent high school graduates with career experience prior to receiving post-secondary education. ‘Experience Ontario’ will enable students to receive three 3-month paid internships in hopes to explore different career options and understand the options available to them after college or university. Students may choose to stay within the same organization for all three internship periods, however in order to fulfil the ‘career exploration’ program objective students are required to work in different areas of the organization.
Employers are required to pay youth employees at least minimum wage during their full-time employment with the company. Up to $2,000 in Ontario government grants will be provided to businesses for each work placement that a student completes, with a maximum amount of $6,000 should an employer wish to hire a student for the full duration of the program.
Ontario Co-op Education Tax Credit for Small Businesses
Once students reach their post-secondary destinations, their desire to gain practical job experience continues to grow. In fact, the popularity of co-op education programs in universities is rising at a staggering rate each year. This means that there are several students in these programs seeking employers to help them fulfil their course requirements. Ontario employers may receive government funding to help reduce the costs of hiring and providing valuable work experience to these students. The Ontario Co-operative Education Tax Credit (CETC) offers 25-30% of eligible costs up to $3,000 in tax incentives for the hiring of co-op placement students. Student placements must last between 10 weeks and four months in order to qualify.
Canada-Ontario Job Grant to Train Youth (and Experienced Employees)
Hiring a youth worker has many benefits; they have theoretical knowledge fresh in their minds from school, a passion to implement that knowledge in the real world, and a new perspective on every aspect of the business. However, youth can still benefit from continuous learning with the Canada-Ontario Job Grant (COJG) training grant, which covers up to 66% of third party training to develop the trainee and help them advance in their role. COJG is applicable to as many employees that you want trained and the focus of training can span from equipment to software to certifications up to $10,000 in funding per trainee.
Not sure what program your business would qualify for out of the above programs? Contact Mentor Works to find out how much grant funding you could receive for the hiring and training.
Discover Government Grants and Loans for Your Small Business
Businesses seeking government funding to cover some of the cost for their next hire should utilize our Wage Subsidy Identifier tool to discover all of the options available. While these three programs provide a basis for hiring and developing youth workers at various education levels, others exist which may provide a better fit for your unique business.
