News Release

FREDERICTON (GNB) – Almost 2,300 summer job placements are available this year to help provide valuable experiential learning opportunities for students.

“Youth employment is a priority for your government,” said Labour, Employment and Population Growth Minister Gilles LePage. “Through the Student Employment Experience Development (SEED) program, post-secondary students get valuable work experience and quality experiential learning to develop and build transferable skills or find employment in their field of study after they graduate.”

This year the province is investing an additional $4 million in the SEED program to create 400 new placements for a total of 2,000 jobs.

For summer 2018, students were able to register for the SEED program as early as Dec. 15, 2017, a month and a half earlier than last year. Due to the additional investment in the program, the placement duration for college and graduating high school students will be increased to nine weeks from eight weeks and to 14 weeks from 10 weeks for university students.

Students have until March 31 to apply for the program. In April, eligible SEED applicants will be selected at random to receive a voucher for one of the 2,000 job placements along with instructions on how to connect with registered employers. Employers can continue to post job opportunities until all students with vouchers are placed.

“I strongly encourage all New Brunswick employers, including non-profit organizations, First Nations communities, municipalities and the private sector to register for SEED and offer New Brunswick students an opportunity to gain valuable skills and to prepare themselves for their future career,” said LePage. “With summer jobs offered through the SEED program as well as other public, private and non-profit employment opportunities, New Brunswick students will have access to many quality summer jobs in 2018.”

Students and employers can learn more about the application process and eligibility at www.NBseed.ca.

In addition to expanding the SEED program, the province announced additional investments in the 2018-19 budget to promote youth employment. These measures include:

• In addition to previous investments, almost $28 million will be invested to support youth employment.

• An additional $5 million will be invested in the Youth Employment Fund.

• A paid internship program will be created within government to hire recent New Brunswick graduates to keep them in the province while reinvigorating the civil service.

• An investment of $2 million will be made to further develop innovative labour market information products to help increase awareness of the full suite of programs and services available to assist youth in gaining on-the-job experience as well as of current and future job opportunities.

In addition, the province will provide $1.3 million to support the creation of more than 280 summer jobs in provincial parks, visitor information centers and public libraries. Summer jobs at provincial parks or visitor information centres will be posted on www.nbjobs.ca. Students interested in applying for a summer job at a public library or community museum can also visit their local library or museum for more information.

These initiatives will add to programs already offered by the province, such as the Youth Employment Fund, One Job Pledge and Workforce Expansion program which are designed to help employers and employees meet their employment needs and reach those who need it most. These programs are intended to help retain youth and train New Brunswickers to help provide valuable work experience and develop a skilled workforce for the province's economy. In recent years, the province also introduced the Free Tuition Program and Tuition Relief for the Middle Class, non-repayable provincial bursaries designed to make post-secondary education more accessible through the provision of increased upfront financial assistance.