Restaurants Canada, a community of restaurants, bars and other foodservice businesses, is urging the Ontario government to raise the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan (ORPP) contribution age from 18 to 25.
In its newly released online campaign, #FixTheORPP, Restaurants Canada argues this change would preserve youth jobs and better suit today’s workplace, where people are joining the workforce later and retiring later. Unemployment among Canadian youth is three times higher than the rest of the population.
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“Youth today are enrolled in post-secondary education at record rates,” says James Rilett, Restaurants Canada’s vice-president for Ontario. “As it stands, the ORPP will force them to save for retirement before their careers even start.”
ORPP contributions would cost the average young employee about $300 a year, he notes.
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“The ORPP would add an employment tax on youth job creators,” Rilett explains. “Fewer jobs for youth will be an unintended consequence of the new system.”