The federal government announced new efforts to improve labour markets for young people in Canada as part of the Spring Economic Update which was released on Tuesday.

The statement, the first of it’s kind in a new cycle of fiscal updates, was tabled in the House of Commons a week after March’s job statistics show unemployment for 15-24 year-olds has reached 13.8 per cent, more than double the national average.

The update announced the creation of the ‘Team Canada Strong’ program, which the government says will provide opportunities for young people, aged 15-30, to gain experience in the trades.

The Liberals are setting aside almost $6 billion in funding for the program, with the aim of increasing the number of young people entering into the skilled trades. This is part of a larger effort to increase the trades’ workforce as the government focused on major infrastructure projects.

“Team Canada Strong will empower workers… to help build the local infrastructure that the government is investing in,” Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said during a press conference about the economic update.

A strengthened workforce in the skilled trades will turn the Liberal’s “plans into projects,” Champagne told reporters.

“This is one of the flagship measures we’ve announced today, inspiring this new generation of Canadians to build this country like we have never seen before,” the finance minister added.

The scheme will be run on a “multi-channel approach,” the report said, vowing to work closely with provincial and territorial government, private industry, and unions, to speed up the road to Red Seal certification for young tradespeople.

“Skilled workers have always been the cornerstone of our economy,” the update reads, adding that “Canada needs them now more than ever.”

Canada will need upwards of 1.4 million new trades workers by 2033, as a result of retirements and economic growth, the report writes. This spring’s update is in line with the 2025 budget, which sought to expand training programs for the skilled trades.

In the fall, the government announced an investment of $75 million, over a period of three years starting this fiscal year.

The updated program aims to push 80,000 to 100,000 young people through the skilled trades apprenticeship process and into full-time jobs in Red Seal skilled trades in by 2031.

Grants of up to $400 a week will be available to young people as they make their way through technical training and the apprenticeship project, the update said. The grants will lay out a total of $16,000 per apprentice.

On top of apprenticeship grants for young people, the government is announcing wage incentives for employers, numbering as high as $10,000. Rewards, numbering $5,000 will also be available for apprentices once they have completed their training.

Pathways into the skilled trades will also be roped into the armed forces, the report outlined. Young Canadians in the Armed Forces Primary Reserve will be eligible for fully funded training for the skilled trades.

Efforts to ease labour mobility are also on the table in the Liberal’s first Spring Economic Update. The government proposes more than doubling the annual limit on expenses that can be deducted for tradespeople as they move around the country.

The changes to labour mobility in Canada are aimed at “helping tradespeople to go where the work is,” the government wrote in the statement.

Changes to the training process for young people going into the skilled trades, as well as these updates to labour mobility in Canada are the central parts of the Liberal’s wider goal of creating an “Economy built for all Canadians,” the statement reads.