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Zerah Lurie is spending the next year as a highly educated, unpaid volunteer: his medical degree from one of Canada’s most prestigious universities couldn’t get him the training spot he needs to become a family doctor.

Michael Brandt found a residency, but when he finished the five years of instruction to qualify as an ear, nose and throat specialist (ENT), he was unable to find a full-time job. And still hasn’t four years later.

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A study he just published suggests those following him have it even worse. A stunning 78 per cent of the ENT specialists who graduated last year failed to find a position, with another 30 about to come on the market.

Neither Lurie nor Brandt are unique, though. More Canadian medical-school students are going “unmatched” with a residency, while the ranks of unemployed, intensely skilled specialists continues to swell — half a decade after the surprising problem first emerged.