Focus on youth jobs may undermine $4-billion digital-adoption program, business groups say

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Business groups say they are concerned that a new $4-billion federal program intended to upgrade the technology used by small enterprises may be undermined by its dual focus on boosting youth employment

The federal government announced the Canada Digital Adoption Program earlier this month. It includes micro-grants to fund website creation, larger grants to

for small business owners. The workers will be hired at a dozen non-profit organizations across the country, one of which will be Digital Main Street itself. Dan Kelly, president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, said while young Canadians may be more comfortable with social media than older business owners, the hard part of adopting digital technologies is how they change business operations, which is an area students may not know about.

Leah Nord, senior director of work force strategies and inclusive growth at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, said the government may not be taking into account that employing young workers can present costs in the form of staff time to hire and mentor the new recruits. Mary Ng, the federal Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion and Small Business, said she hopes firms become more profitable as they adopt new technology, which would provide the revenue needed to keep the new employees on.The minister’s office was not able to say how much money had been budgeted for the tech-support positions.

 

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It's always businesses wanting a handout. They want experienced labour but don't want to pay for it. They want staff that's trained in their specialized systems but they don't want to train their recruits. If they don't want gov't help, fine. Leave them to their own devices.

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