OTTAWA—The federal government is promising students monthly payouts, enhanced grants and cash incentives to volunteer their time in the face of a tough job market that has many worried about finding work.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday unveiled a $9-billion aid package aimed at students who are leaving school with little hopes of finding employment in an economy that has been shut down, hindering career starts for grads and income for returning students.

“For a lot of students, the month of May normally marks the start of a summer job. But right now, it might be really tough to find something,” he said.

“As you’re building your future, thinking about how to contribute, to about starting a family or a career, all of a sudden you’re faced with a massive crisis. This uncertainty that you feel can be overwhelming,” he said during his daily pandemic briefing.

He promised that Wednesday’s measures, “will help you get through this.”

The main measure is the Canada Emergency Student Benefit, which will pay $1,250 a month and up to $1,750 for those with dependants or those with disabilities. The benefit will be paid between May and August and those going to school and recent graduates will be eligible. Students with jobs will qualify but only if they make less than $1,000 a month, Trudeau said.

As well, he said the government would create 76,000 jobs for young people on top of previous enhancements to the federal student jobs program.

“These placements will be in sectors that need an extra hand right now or that are on the front-line of this pandemic,” he said.

Yet the prime minister had few details on what exactly these jobs that might entail, saying such details would be hammered out in the coming days. “We’re looking at sectors that need extra support, perhaps agriculture,” he said.

Trudeau also announced the Canada Student Service Grant, an incentive worth up $5,000 to encourage students to volunteer.

The prime minister said the government will also double grants for students, provide an extra $75.2 million for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Nation students pursuing post-secondary as well as boost research scholarships, grants and fellowships with an extra $291.6 million.

The federal government had already made some limited moves to help students by temporarily suspending loan repayments and interest on Canada Student Loans as well as enhancing its student jobs program.

Yet the dearth of jobs had prompted calls to allow students to apply for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), which pays $500 a week for 16 weeks, to people who have lost income because of the virus.

Sofia Descalzi, Chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students, said Wednesday’s measures would go a long way to relieving the financial pressures facing students.

“This announcement is providing them with the financial relief they were looking for,” she said, while noting gaps like the fact that international students are not covered.

She called the measures “a step in the right direction,” but again expressed the desire that the more generous CERB should be made universal.

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“We don’t understand why students will have less support given that we also pay rent, pay our bills, we have to get our groceries. We do hear from many that this will not be enough,” she said in an interview.

Nicholas Ferreira, part of the “Don’t Forget Students” coalition, which had pressed Ottawa for financial help for students, called the help “significant.”

“It is a very substantial step that will go a long way toward meeting a lot of students’ needs,” he said.

But he cautioned that students are keen to hear more details, especially about the new jobs program and requirements for the volunteer incentive.

Ferreira is finishing fourth year studying international relations and political science at Trinity College at the University of Toronto and considering going back to school in the fall. With his own job picture uncertain, he thinks he may be eligible for the support announced Wednesday.

“This is something that thankfully should help me out but I know there are people out there who will need more support,” he said.

With a patchwork of federal programs taking shape to blunt the economic fallout, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh against pressed the government to make the CERB available to all who need it “so that no one gets left behind.

“It’s easy. The government should make the CERB universal so that students and anyone else who needs help can get the help they need right away,” he said in a statement.

Pressed on that point Wednesday, Trudeau defended his government’s approach to provide tailor-made programs.

“There are millions of Canadians who need help. There are others who do not need help… We feel that targeting the maximum amount of help to the people who needed it quickly was the right way to begin to get through this process,” the prime minister said.

But at the same time, he conceded that weeks into the crisis, gaps still remain in the government’s response. For example, he said that further measures to help seniors would be coming shortly.

The March labour force survey by Statistics Canada underscored the concerns about student job prospects. The March data captured just the early impact of the economic shutdown and revealed that youth aged 15 to 24 suffered the sharpest job loss with employment dropping by 392,500.

Statistics Canada reported that the decrease was almost entirely in part-time work. Almost two-thirds of youth are students. Those in school were hit harder than nonstudents.

The unemployment rate for youth jumped 6.5 percentage points to 16.8 per cent, the highest rate for this group since 1997. Statistics Canada reported that an additional 88,400 youth wanted work in March but did not search due to reasons related to COVID-19.

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