Student Summer Skills Incentive (SKILL)

The Student Summer Skills Incentive (SKILL) offers wage assistance to non-profit organizations that hire post-secondary students for summer jobs.

Apply between 15 December 2026 and 31 January 2027.

SKILL helps registered non-profits, charities and social enterprises offer summer jobs to post-secondary students.

Eligible employers can hire students for terms of 8-14 weeks in the summer. You'll receive a subsidy of $10.50 per hour for the wages you pay to your student employees. Students must work at least 240 hours during their work term. The program will reimburse up to 525 hours.

Employers are eligible for a $1 per hour diversity bonus if the student they hire self- identifies as Mi'kmaq or Indigenous, African Nova Scotian, a visible minority, a person with a disability, member of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, a woman in an occupation where they are under-represented or an international student.

SKILL supports jobs that provide students with valuable, transferable skills that are relevant to post-secondary education. Jobs that consist primarily of manual labour or low-skilled tasks will not be approved. If you need help developing or describing the job you want to fill, email yepinfo@novascotia.ca.

Hiring a student whose area of study relates to your job – a Computer Science student to build a website, a Business student to help with marketing or a History major for museum research – makes the job more valuable for you and your student. If you are able to hire a student in a co-op or other work-integrated learning program, such as an internship or work placement, that's better still, as the student will get course credit at school for the work at your organization.

Eligibility

Organizations can apply for the subsidy if they:

  • are a not-for-profit organization registered as a charity or active society with the Registry of Joint Stock Companies or can provide alternative documentation confirming their not-for-profit status
  • plan to hire a university or college student for 8-14 weeks between April and August
  • pay their summer student-employee minimum wage or more (plus vacation pay) for full-time work (at least 240 hours during their work term)
  • aren't receiving funding from any other government employment program for the same position

Work Integrated Learning Eligibility

If an organization hires a student from a co-op or other work-integrated learning program (such as an internship or work placement) the program requirements are slightly different:

  • the student's work term must meet both the requirements above and the educational requirements of their program
  • you must provide written confirmation (a letter or email) from a representative of the educational program that shows the position will allow the student to earn course credits
  • if the work-integrated-learning program does not require it, the student you hire does not need to be returning to school in the fall (for example, a program where the work experience is the last program requirement.)
  • you must pay at least $1 more than minimum wage. The subsidy amount will be increased by $1 from the regular SKILL rate
  • to qualify for this increased subsidy rate, select SKILL-WIL as the position type on the SKILL application

Before you start

When you apply, you need to:

  • provide your charity number, active Society Act number or other legal documentation of your organization's legal structure
  • describe your organization and the position you want to fill, including a breakdown of the time employees will spend on different tasks. Read the program guidelines for more information

If you want to hire students in more than one county, you'll need to submit a separate application for each county.

How to apply

When you apply online you need to create a LaMPSS Account or sign in.

Start now

If you do not have a LaMPSS account, you can create one during the application process, but you will need to download the Electronic Funds Transfer Form. Agreements cannot be approved until your organization is an approved government vendor.

Contact

Labour, Skills and Immigration
PO Box 697
Halifax, NS
B3J 2T8

Phone: 902 424-6000
Toll Free: 1-800-424-5418
Email:

For your information, this catalogue contains approved positions listed by county.

Downloads

Required Forms for Approved Work Terms

Related information