High school students walking across graduation stages this month will step into an uncertain job market as B.C. has the second-highest youth unemployment rate in Canada.

Uncertainty prevails for business and households in Canada, and surveys indicate companies plan to scale back investment and have dropped hiring plans.

Canada's unemployment rate in May jumped to its highest level in almost nine years outside of the pandemic era with 1.6 million jobless people in the country amid a constrained labor market, data showed on Friday.