Summer jobs for students may be easier to come by next year thanks to the return of the Summer Temporary Employment Program (STEP), which was axed by the former Progressive Conservative government in 2013.
Starting in 2016, the NDP government will allocate $10 million per year for wage subsidies for more than 3,000 student positions. Employers – including small businesses, municipalities, non-for-profit groups and post-secondary institutions – are all eligible for the subsidy.
Beiseker Mayor Ray Courtman deemed the program’s return “great news.”
“For small communities, support programs like this really help both us and young kids coming up. They can really benefit from it. It keeps them in the community and gives them something to do,” he said. “It can lead to other endeavours in the community.
“We were very sad to see it cut back and see it eliminated.”
According to Courtman, the Village previously employed summer students to work for the local library and museum, as well as in the recycling program. Though Village council has not yet discussed reinstating those positions, Courtman said “those and possibly others” might again be made available.
“Supporting the youth from our community is paramount in my opinion,” he said. “It keeps them in the community, so they avoid that expense, and they of course are with their friends and family here.
“That first year or two out of high school, it can really benefit them.”
Work placements in the program will run from May until August. According to Lori Sigurdson, Alberta Minister for Jobs, Skills, Training and Labour, the program’s return was a campaign promise.
“Our government committed to bringing back the (STEP) program during our campaign and earlier this week I had the pleasure of doing just that,” she said in an email to the Rocky View Weekly. “This program will support more than 3,000 students find summer jobs and earn valuable work exposure.”
