The major economic and demographic analyses of youth unemployment are reviewed, and data on the employment experiences of recent Canadian graduates are analyzed. Projections of future demand for highly qualified manpower are also considered. A particular focus is the impact of actual and perceived employment problems on university enrollments and programs. Information from a variety of sources shows that while recent graduates have had more difficulty in the job market than their counterparts in the fifties and sixties, certain popular assumptions about extensive unemployment among the university-educated cannot be substantiated. However, student perception of employment problems is having an effect on the universities, resulting in a declining participation rate, shifts in enrollment to more vocationally oriented programs, and questioning of the value of a liberal arts education. Data are presented on: labor force growth and unemployment rates for selected industrialized countries and for Ontario, Canada; Canadian unemployment rate by selected age group, 1955-77; elementary-secondary enrollment, school-leavers with bachelor's degrees and new teachers hired, Canada, 1962-86; the annual number of potential labor force entrants from the Ontario educational system by level of schooling, 1966-2000; postsecondary gross enrollment rate, Canada, 1962-86; average spring unemployment rate, by educational level, Canada, 1974-77; median salaries by field of study for college and bachelor's degree graduates employed full-time. (SW)