Headlines like these capture recent public concerns in Canada about the labor-market problems of youth. Policy makers frequently echo these sentiments, as did the federal minister of human resources when he stated that “[w]e're going to have a lost generation in front of us if we don't work fast” (Edmonton Journal, November 6, 1993, p. A3). Images of a lost generation of youths were also prominent during the recession of 1981–1982, when youth unemployment reached record post–World War II heights of over 20%. In response, a number of new youth-oriented employment programs and training schemes were introduced. The problem seemed to solve itself, however, when the economy began to recover in the mid-1980s and the last of the large cohort of “baby boomers” moved out of the education system into the workforce.