Four hires, worked out
In Ontario, a co-op student hired for 16 summer weeks at $22 an hour brings in $7,214 (59% of $12,320 in wages) from Canada Summer Jobs plus Ontario Co-operative Education Tax Credit. The same hire in Alberta brings in $5,000, because Alberta has no provincial co-op credit. A first-year apprentice in Ontario: up to $15,000, paid over the apprenticeship. A recent graduate in Nova Scotia: $18,281 from Nova Scotia Graduate to Opportunity.
| The hire | Gets | From |
|---|---|---|
| A co-op student for a summer term$22.00 an hour, 35 h a week, 16 weeks, digital role, 8-person tech business | $7,21459% of $12,320 in wages | Canada Summer Jobs + Ontario Co-operative Education Tax CreditOpen this in the calculator |
| A high-school student for the summer8 weeks full time (35 h) at $18.95 an hour, retail business of 8 people | $2,51347% of $5,306 in wages | Canada Summer JobsOpen this in the calculator |
| A first-year apprenticeRed Seal trade, under 25, $20.00 an hour, 40 h a week, permanent, 6-person trades business | up to $15,000over two years | Apprenticeship Job Creation Tax Credit + Ontario Achievement Incentiveplus Build Canada Apprenticeship Service once it opens ($10,000 at most), not countedOpen this in the calculator |
| A recent graduate, full timeFinished under a year ago, $25.00 an hour, 37.5 h a week, permanent, 20-person tech business | $20,00041% of $48,750 in wages | OCI Talent Development InternshipsOpen this in the calculator |
Ontario, a business, start May 2027. Worked out by the same engine as the calculator above, from the rules below.
Hiring money is one corner of it. What else does your business qualify for?
Grants, tax credits and loans are matched on your business, not on who you hire. The eligibility map checks 850+ programs and ranks what fits.
Check what my business qualifies for Free · about 2 minutes · no card
Every programme the calculator checks
32 hiring programmes: 15 open to employers anywhere in Canada, the rest provincial or regional. Each links to its full profile.
| Programme | What it pays | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Student Work Placement Program: one delivery partner per placement (9) | ||
| ICTC: WIL Digital Program (Tech Sector Student Work Placement)College or university students on a work-integrated placement. Any employer; the role must be digital or technical | 50% of the student’s wages, up to $5,000 per placement | Canada-wideOpen |
| TECHNATION Career Ready ProgramCollege or university students on a work-integrated placement. Any employer; the role must use technology in some capacity | 50% of the student’s gross earnings, up to $5,000 per student | Canada-wideOpen |
| Ontario Chamber of Commerce Talent Opportunities Program (TOP)College or university students on a work-integrated placement. Any industry, any province; the placement must be part of the student’s study plan | 50% of wages, up to $5,000 per placement | Canada-wideOpen |
| Venture for Canada Internship ProgramCollege or university students on a work-integrated placement. Under 500 employees; pay at least $18.00 an hour; an innovation or entrepreneurial role | 50% of wages, up to $5,000 per student per term (up to two consecutive terms) | Canada-wideOpen |
| BioTalent Canada: Student Work Placement Program (SWPP)College or university students on a work-integrated placement. Biotech, bio-economy or healthcare employer, or a role with that focus | 50% of the student’s wages, up to $5,000 per placement term | Canada-wideOpen |
| EHRC: Empowering Futures (Electricity Sector Student Work Placement)College or university students on a work-integrated placement. Electricity-sector employers | Up to $5,000 per placement; the employer must pay at least half the salary | Canada-wideOpen |
| MiHR: Gearing Up (Mining Sector Student Work Placement)College or university students on a work-integrated placement. Mining and mineral exploration employers | Up to $5,000 per placement (the share of wages it covers is not stated in our record) | Canada-wideOpen |
| ECO Canada: Student Work Placement Program (SWPP)College or university students on a work-integrated placement. Environmental-sector placements tied to a STEAM or Business program | 50% of the student’s salary, up to $5,000 | Canada-wideOpen |
| Propel Student Work Placement ProgramCollege or university students on a work-integrated placement. Tourism and hospitality employers, or a tourism/hospitality role | 50% of gross wages (tips and commissions excluded), up to $5,000 per placement | Canada-wideOpen |
| Canada Summer Jobs (1) | ||
| Canada Summer Jobs | Businesses: 50% of the provincial minimum wage for each hour. Non-profits: up to 100%. | Canada-wideBetween intakes |
| Tax credits that sit on top of a wage subsidy (4) | ||
| Ontario Co-operative Education Tax Credit (OCELC) | 25% to 30% of co-op wages, up to $3,000 per placement; wages are reduced by any other wage subsidy first | OntarioOpen |
| Co-operative Students Hiring Incentive (COS-HI): Manitoba | 15% of co-op wages (after federal assistance), up to $5,000 per student over all work terms | ManitobaOpen |
| Co-operative Graduate Hiring Incentive (COG-HI): Manitoba | 15% of wages in each of the first two full years, up to $2,500 a year | ManitobaOpen |
| Apprenticeship Job Creation Tax Credit (AJCTC) | 10% of the apprentice’s wages, up to $2,000 a year, in their first two years (a non-refundable tax credit) | Canada-wideOpen |
| Milestone grants (1) | ||
| Ontario Achievement Incentive Program | $1,000 per in-class level (up to 4) and $1,000 on certification, matched by a bonus if the apprentice is under 25 and/or from an under-represented group | OntarioOpen |
| Wage subsidies for particular hires (16) | ||
| Nova Scotia Co-op Education Incentive | $8 an hour ($9.50 for a student from a designated diversity group), up to 640 hours | Nova ScotiaOpen |
| Nova Scotia Graduate to Opportunity (GTO) | GTO Grow: 25% of year-one salary and 12.5% of year two (plus 10% in year one for an under-represented hire) | Nova ScotiaOpen |
| OCI Critical Industrial Technologies: Talent Development Internships: Ontario Centre of Innovation | $10,000 per four-month internship unit, two units at most; you match 1:1 | OntarioOpen |
| techNL Graduate Transition Initiative | Up to $33,000 wage subsidy plus $8,250 for onboarding, over a one-year term | Newfoundland and LabradorOpen |
| Youth Internships in Northern Ontario: FedNor | Up to 90% of the intern’s salary and benefits, up to $35,000 a year ($52,500 over 18 months) | Northern OntarioOpen |
| NOHFC Workforce Development Program | Businesses: 50% of salary and payroll costs, up to $35,000 for a 52-week internship. Non-profits: 90%. | Northern OntarioOpen |
| NOHFC Indigenous Workforce Development Program | Businesses: 75% of an Indigenous intern’s salary and payroll costs, up to $52,500 a year | Northern OntarioOpen |
| BioTalent Canada: Career Starter Program | 60% of the youth’s salary, up to $20,000 (including support services) | Canada-wideOpen |
| MiHR: Green Jobs Program (Mining Clean Tech Youth Placements) | Up to $24,000 per placement; up to $30,000 for Indigenous youth, youth with disabilities and northern or remote youth | Canada-wideOpen |
| Youth Employment and Skills Program: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada | 50% of wages and benefits, up to $14,000 (up to 80% for a youth facing a barrier) | Canada-wideBetween intakes |
| Access Ability Wage Subsidy Program: Arthur L. Irving Entrepreneurship Centre | $9 an hour for up to 700 hours, up to $6,300 | Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward IslandOpen |
| NL JobsNL Wage Subsidy | 60% to 80% of wages, at most $12 an hour, for 10 to 28 weeks | Newfoundland and LabradorOpen |
| Employ PEI (Wage Subsidy) | 50% of wages, at most $12.50 an hour, for up to 20 weeks | Prince Edward IslandOpen |
| Yukon Staffing UP: Wage & Training Subsidy | Up to 60% of base wages, for up to one year | YukonOpen |
| Nova Scotia START Hiring Incentive | A wage incentive set case by case by Employment Nova Scotia | Nova ScotiaOpen |
| Subvention salariale (Québec Wage Subsidy) | Up to 50% of gross wages for up to 30 weeks (60 for a person with a disability), at most the minimum-wage equivalent per hour | QuebecOpen |
| Announced, not open yet (1) | ||
| Build Canada Apprenticeship Service | Up to $10,000 per first-year apprentice in an eligible Red Seal trade, for small and medium-sized employers | Canada-wideOpens later this fall |
What stacks, and what doesn’t
- One wage subsidy
- A hire gets at most one wage subsidy. The nine Student Work Placement Program partners pay the same way, and a placement uses one of them. None of them combines with Canada Summer Jobs.
- Credits on top
- SWPP “can be combined” with provincial co-op tax credits; the credit is then worked out on wages minus the SWPP amount. Canada Summer Jobs allows provincial programmes on top, up to 100% of your costs. The Ontario Achievement Incentive is a milestone grant, not a wage subsidy, so it does not reduce the tax credit’s wage base. A tax credit can sit on top of a wage subsidy, but only on the wages the subsidy did not pay.
- Everything else
- Where no record says two programmes combine, the calculator shows them as routes to compare and never adds them. Stacking is where owners get hurt: a claim you cannot keep is repaid.
By province and territory
Ontario21 programmes can pay toward a hire hereHiring subsidies in Ontario →Quebec16 programmes can pay toward a hire hereHiring subsidies in Quebec →British Columbia15 programmes can pay toward a hire hereHiring subsidies in British Columbia →Alberta15 programmes can pay toward a hire hereHiring subsidies in Alberta →Manitoba17 programmes can pay toward a hire hereHiring subsidies in Manitoba →Saskatchewan15 programmes can pay toward a hire hereHiring subsidies in Saskatchewan →Nova Scotia19 programmes can pay toward a hire hereHiring subsidies in Nova Scotia →New Brunswick16 programmes can pay toward a hire hereHiring subsidies in New Brunswick →Newfoundland and Labrador18 programmes can pay toward a hire hereHiring subsidies in Newfoundland and Labrador →Prince Edward Island17 programmes can pay toward a hire hereHiring subsidies in Prince Edward Island →Yukon16 programmes can pay toward a hire hereHiring subsidies in Yukon →Northwest Territories15 programmes can pay toward a hire hereHiring subsidies in Northwest Territories →Nunavut15 programmes can pay toward a hire hereHiring subsidies in Nunavut →
Calculators for single programmes
Student Work Placement Program calculator50% of a student’s wages up to $5,000 through one of 9 delivery partnersOpen the calculator →Canada Summer Jobs calculatorUp to 50% of the minimum wage for a business, 100% for a non-profit, by provinceOpen the calculator →Apprentice hiring calculatorThe federal apprenticeship tax credit, Ontario’s Achievement Incentive and what else paysOpen the calculator →Ontario Co-operative Education Tax Credit calculator25% to 30% of co-op wages up to $3,000 a placement, after any wage subsidyOpen the calculator →
The numbers are free. Premium gets the application done.
- How much cash you carry before each reimbursement lands, programme by programme.
- The documents to gather and the tip most employers miss.
- Your application, drafted for you, section by section.
- Every other programme your business qualifies for, across the 850+ we track.
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Questions owners ask
How much will the government pay toward a new hire?
It depends on who you hire and where. Of the 32 hiring programmes we track, most pay only for a particular kind of hire: a college or university student, a recent graduate, a young person, an apprentice or someone who was out of work. A co-op student in Ontario (16 weeks at $22 an hour) can bring in $7,214; a first-year apprentice in Ontario, up to $15,000 over the apprenticeship. An experienced hire usually gets nothing from a hiring programme.
Can I combine the Student Work Placement Program with Canada Summer Jobs?
No. ESDC does not allow the same placement to draw Student Work Placement Program funding from two delivery partners, or to be combined with another federal program such as Canada Summer Jobs. The calculator shows them side by side and never adds them together.
Does Canada Summer Jobs pay on the wage I pay?
No. It pays on the provincial minimum wage: up to 50% of it for a business with 50 or fewer employees, and up to 100% for a non-profit, for up to 16 weeks. The calculator uses the general minimum wage where the job is (Government of Canada, Minimum Wage Database: Current and Forthcoming General Minimum Wage Rates in Canada (page 'Date modified: 2026-09-25'; data file /en/data/minimum_wage.json, table is rendered client-side), checked September 24, 2026).
Can a tax credit sit on top of a wage subsidy?
Yes, where the record allows it, but only on the wages the subsidy did not pay. The Ontario Co-operative Education Tax Credit, for example, is worked out on your co-op wages minus the Student Work Placement Program amount.
Where do these numbers come from?
Each amount is worked out from the programme’s own rule, quoted word for word from our catalogue record (138 quotes, each checked by the build), and each record was last checked against the funder between June 24, 2026 and September 11, 2026. Open Why on any line for the arithmetic, the rule and the source. These are estimates: the funder decides.
What the calculator leaves out, on purpose
- Training grants (Canada-Ontario Job Grant, BC Employer Training Grant): they pay for training, not for the hire.
- Research placements (Mitacs) and placements where no money reaches the employer.
- Work-Sharing and EI premium reductions: they are not about a new hire.
- Programmes that are closed or paused. They come back into the calculator when they reopen.
- Open programmes not in our catalogue yet: Alberta Youth Employment Incentive, WorkBC Wage Subsidy, Newfoundland and Labrador Apprenticeship Wage Subsidy, Magnet (Student Work Placement Program partner). We verified each on the funder’s page (September 24, 2026) and name it on its province page, but the calculator only prices what it can quote from a record.