OTTAWA—A new study from Statistics Canada says young people have seen their job quality decline over the last four decades, even as the unemployment rate has remained virtually unchanged.

In a report released Monday, the national statistics office says fewer young Canadians, who are not full-time students, are working in full-time jobs today than in 1976, a result driven mainly by the rise of part-time work rather than increases in unemployment rates or decreases in labour force participation.

The youth unemployment rate in both 1976 and 2015 was 2.3 times higher than the rate among those aged 25 and older.

Researchers say the declines in full-time work for those aged 17 to 24 have been almost even across the country and mirror international trends of rising part-time and temporary jobs as a share of total employment since the mid-1980s.

Full-time workers aged 25 to 34 were also more likely to hold temporary jobs, but the study says they have been less affected than their younger counterparts.

The study says people under age 25 who were employed full-time have seen their wages fall behind the cost of living since the early 1980s.