Employment Insurance in Canada - Canadian Social Research Links

The Federal Government section of Canadian Social Research Links comprises several separate pages of links :
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*** Page 1. Agriculture and Agri-Food to Finance
*** Page 2. Fisheries and Oceans to Veterans Affairs
- Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) - info about Old Age Security, the Canada Pension Plan, Employment Insurance and other social programs - and where I worked...
- Health Links - Canada/International - info about Health Canada and related stuff from the U.S. and elsewhere in the world
- Employment Insurance in Canada - selected reports and other related links

The Employment Insurance Program in Canada: How it Works
By André Léonard
18 October 2010
HTML version
http://parl.gc.ca/Content/LOP/ResearchPublications/2010-52-e.htm

PDF version (254 Kb, 23 pages)
http://parl.gc.ca/Content/LOP/ResearchPublications/2010-52-e.pdf

Contents:

1 Introduction
2 Unemployment and Employment Benefits
2.1 Insurable Employment, Insurable Earnings and Benefit Rates
2.1.1 Insurable Employment
2.1.2 Maximum Yearly Insurable Earnings
2.1.3 Benefit Rates
2.2 Regular Benefits
2.2.1 Qualifying Conditions
2.2.1.1 Persons Who Are New Entrants or Re-entrants to the Labour Force
2.2.1.2 All Other Persons
2.2.1.3 Penalties for Violations
2.2.2 Benefit Period
2.2.3 Deductions
2.2.4 Statistics on Regular Benefits

2.3 Special Benefits
2.3.1 Maternity Benefits
2.3.2 Parental Benefits
2.3.3 Sickness Benefits
2.3.4 Compassionate Care Benefits
2.3.5 Statistics on Special Benefits
2.4 Fishing Benefits
2.5 Work-sharing
2.6 More Details on Unemployment Benefits
2.6.1 Combined Benefits
2.6.2 Provisions for Teachers
2.6.3 Pilot Projects
2.6.4 Appealing Employment Insurance Decisions
2.7 Employment Benefits
3 Employment Insurance Program Financing
3.1 Premiums
3.2 Setting the Premium Rate

Source:
Parliamentary Information and Research Service:
http://www.parl.gc.ca/About/Library/VirtualLibrary/ResearchPublications-E.asp

[ Library of Parliament Research Publications:
http://www.parl.gc.ca/About/Library/VirtualLibrary/ResearchPublicationsCurrent-e.asp ]

January 19, 2012
Employment Insurance, November 2011
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/120119/dq120119b-eng.htm
In November, the number of people receiving regular Employment Insurance benefits totalled 539,000, virtually unchanged from the previous month.
- includes three tables:
* Employment Insurance: Statistics by province and territory
* Beneficiaries receiving regular benefits by age group, sex, province and territory
* Beneficiaries receiving regular benefits by census metropolitan areas

Related link:

Employment Insurance Statistics Maps, November 2011
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/73-002-x/73-002-x2011010-eng.htm
- change in number of people receiving regular Employment Insurance benefits in the last 12 months, by Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations.
- incl. Intro to maps + link to November 2011 maps [in the left margin]

Source:
Employment Insurance Statistics Maps - Product main page*
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/bsolc/olc-cel/olc-cel?catno=73-002-X&lang=eng
Set of maps presenting Employment Insurance Statistics. The maps show the percentage change in the number of people receiving regular Employment Insurance benefits in the last 12 months, by Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs) and Census Agglomerations (CAs), using 2001 Census geography. Data are also shown in a tabular format.
---
* On the product main page, click "View" to see the latest issue
of this report online; click "Chronological index" for earlier issues.

Tables by subject: Employment insurance, social assistance and other transfers
http://www40.statcan.gc.ca/l01/ind01/l3_2621_2627-eng.htm?hili_none

Related subjects:

* Labour
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/subject-sujet/theme-theme.action?pid=2621&lang=eng&more=0

* Employment insurance, social assistance and other transfers
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/subject-sujet/subtheme-soustheme.action?pid=2621&id=2627&lang=eng&more=0

* Non-wage benefits
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/subject-sujet/subtheme-soustheme.action?pid=2621&id=2628&lang=eng&more=0

[ earlier editions of this report:
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/bsolc/olc-cel/olc-cel?catno=73-002-X&chropg=1&lang=eng

Andrew Jackson blogs on the Mowat Employment Insurance report:
http://www.progressive-economics.ca/2011/11/16/the-mowat-centre-and-employment-insurance/

The Mowat report:

Making it Work : Final Recommendations of the
Mowat Centre Employment Insurance Task Force (PDF - 859K, 122 pages)
November 16, 2011

Source:
Mowat Centre Employment Insurance Task Force
The Mowat Centre EI Task Force is examining Canada's support system for the unemployed and will propose a blueprint for a strengthened national system.
The EI Task Force is part of:
The Mowat Centre
The Mowat Centre for Policy Innovation is an independent, non-partisan public policy research centre located at the School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Toronto. The Mowat Centre undertakes collaborative applied policy research and engages in public dialogue on Canada’s most important national issues, and proposes innovative, research-driven public policy recommendations, informed by Ontario’s reality.

Closing the gap between EI and welfare
http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1109317
By Laurie Monsebraaten
January 1, 2012
(...) [there is] a growing number of area workers who either aren’t covered by EI or don’t qualify and could benefit from a proposed “Jobseeker’s Loan” designed to bridge the gap between employment insurance and welfare, says social policy researcher Michael Mendelson. (...) Under Mendelson’s proposal, income-tested forgivable loans would be available in bi-weekly payments of almost $700 for six months. The loans would be repaid based on total earnings for the year the money was received — they would be completely forgivable for those with incomes below about $10,000 and fully repayable for those earning about $71,000. At about $51,000, recipients would have to repay half of the Jobseeker’s Loan. All adults looking for work would be eligible for the full loan of almost $9,000 every five years and it would could cost the federal government about $1 billion annually.
Source:
Toronto Star
http://www.thestar.com/

From the
Caledon Institute of Social Policy:

Fixing the Hole in Employment Insurance: Temporary Income Assistance for the Unemployed (PDF - 132K, 37 pages)
http://www.caledoninst.org/pdf_en/967ENG.pdf
Michael Mendelson and Ken Battle
December 2011
Many unemployed Canadians are ineligible for Employment Insurance, so that welfare becomes their only alternative. But welfare rates are low, especially for single employable recipients. Further, applicants must exhaust their financial assets, and the paternalistic requirements of welfare are stigmatizing. As a consequence, it is difficult to bounce back from welfare into the economic mainstream. The solution most often proposed has been to loosen the rules for Employment Insurance; however, we show in this paper that many unemployed workers would still be left in the cold even if we did that. Something is needed between Employment Insurance, with its relatively higher benefits but limited reach, and welfare, to which anyone in need can apply but only for inadequate benefits. We propose a new temporary income measure to fill the gap between Employment Insurance and welfare – the Jobseeker’s Loan.
Source:
Caledon Institute of Social Policy
http://www.caledoninst.org/

---

NOTE : The Caledon Institute of Social Policy website was recently relaunched. If you have links to or bookmarks for some of Caledon's reports, you'll have to update those. The Publications section of the new site [ http://www.caledoninst.org/pub_search.php ] contains links to hundreds of reports, articles, submissions, etc., back to 1993. Take a few minutes to visit the new Caledon website!

Manitoba

Welfare fills gap as jobless wait for EI
Federal government to blame for tardy processing, advocate says
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/welfare-fills-gap-as-jobless-wait-for-ei-136420573.html
By Bruce Owen
December 30, 2011
More Manitobans are collecting welfare despite the province having one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country, the most recent provincial numbers say.
And experts say one reason is due to the unemployed being forced to apply for provincial social assistance because of increasing delays in processing federal Employment Insurance claims. (...) Neil Cohen, executive director of Winnipeg's Community Unemployed Help Centre, said it's becoming more common for jobless Manitobans to collect provincial assistance because of the length of time it takes to get Employment Insurance claims processed. In some cases, it takes up to six weeks or longer.
Source:
Winnipeg Free Press
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/

Related links:

Community Unemployed Help Centre (CUHC)
http://www.cuhc.mb.ca/
CUHC is a non-profit organization primarily dedicated to providing information, advice and representation to unemployed workers in Manitoba experiencing Employment Insurance problems. We also engage in broader social policy issues related to unemployment.
- incl. links to:
* Home * About Us * What You Need to Know Before You Apply * UI/EI Information * Appeals Information * Making EI Better * Help Centres in Other Provinces * Links
TIP : CUHC's roots are in the Manitoba labour movement, but Employment Insurance is a federal program, so the information on the CUHC website applies to all jurisdictions. Recommended reading!

From Statistics Canada:

December 16, 2011
Employment Insurance, October 2011
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/111216/tdq111216-eng.htm
The number of people receiving regular Employment Insurance benefits declined slightly (-5,400 or -1.0%) to 541,200 in October, continuing a year-long downward trend.
- includes three tables:
* Employment Insurance: Statistics by province and territory
* Beneficiaries receiving regular benefits by age group, sex, province and territory
* Beneficiaries receiving regular benefits by census metropolitan areas

Related link:

Employment Insurance Statistics Maps, October 2011
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/73-002-x/73-002-x2011010-eng.htm
- change in number of people receiving regular Employment Insurance benefits in the last 12 months, by Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations.
- incl. Intro to maps + link to September 2011 maps [in the left margin]

Tables by subject: Employment insurance, social assistance and other transfers
http://www40.statcan.gc.ca/l01/ind01/l3_2621_2627-eng.htm?hili_none

[ earlier editions of this report ]

From the
Vancouver Sun:

Decline in EI recipients could signal renewed health in B.C. labour market
http://goo.gl/8jhR9
By Evan Duggan
December 16, 2011
A decline in the number of British Columbians receiving employment insurance benefits could be a sign the labour market is recovering from the beating it took beginning with the global recession in 2008, according to a Vancouver economist.New numbers published by Statistics Canada show that 9,170 fewer people in Metro Vancouver received EI benefits in October 2011 when compared to October 2010 — a 32 per cent drop. Throughout B.C. there was a 28 per cent drop year-over-year fewer recipients across the province.
(...)
While the number of employment insurance beneficiaries has been falling, the total number of British Columbians receiving provincial income assistance has remained steady at roughly 180,000 over the past year, according to statistics provided by the Ministry of Social Development. “Numbers do fluctuate with seasonal work,” said David Haslam, a spokesman with the Ministry of Social Development. “We have not seen any indication that the decline in the number of EI recipients is having a significant impact on the province’s income assistance caseload.”
Source:
Vancouver Sun
http://www.vancouversun.com/

---

From the
Progressive Economics Forum (PEF):

EI Coverage Falls Below 40%
http://www.progressive-economics.ca/2011/12/16/employment-insurance-below-40/
By Erin Weir
December 16, 2011
It may be a grim Christmas for thousands of unemployed Canadians. Today’s Employment Insurance figures show that fewer workers received benefits in October, even as more became unemployed and filed EI claims.

[ More PEF postings on Employment Insurance:
http://www.progressive-economics.ca/category/employment-insurance/ ]

Source:
Progressive Economics Forum (PEF)
http://www.progressive-economics.ca/

Star editorial on making EI standards national:
November 8, 2011
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/article/1083599--set-national-standards-for-ei
Ontario lost 75,000 full-time jobs last month — by far the biggest loss among the provinces. As many of these laid-off workers now turn to the employment insurance (EI) program for help, can they count on a program adequate for Ontario’s tough times? The evidence says no.
Source:
Toronto Star

Making it Work : Final Recommendations of the
Mowat Centre Employment Insurance Task Force (PDF - 859K, 122 pages)
November 16, 2011
In Spring 2010, the Mowat Centre convened the Employment Insurance Task Force.
The Task Force’s mandate was to review the current Employment Insurance (EI) system, consult about its relevance to contemporary realities, and make recommendations about improving Canada’s support system for the unemployed. At the outset, we committed that any recommendations would be evidence-based and principled. We also committed that this process would be transparent, non-partisan, and incorporate a diversity of perspectives.

To this end, we held extensive consultations with employers, workers, and civil society. We commissioned research from Canada’s top experts. We hosted a series of technical consultations to vet our proposals. (...) Based on our research and consultation, we propose a blueprint for a strengthened national program to support the unemployed. (...)
Our 18 recommendations are organized around four themes:
- a nationally standardized system,
- active employment measures (i.e. training),
- special benefits, and
- financing and management.
We recommend transformational changes, as well as smaller changes that address long-standing irritants in the EI system.

November 11, 2011
New papers from the
Mowat Centre Employment Insurance Task Force:

NOTE : This series of four papers was commissioned by the Mowat Centre Employment Insurance Task Force to serve as sources of input for the Task Force
as it develops recommendations for reform of Canada’s Employment Insurance system. Watch for the release of the final recommendations of the Mowat Centre EI Task Force on November 16th.

The Income Sources for Long-Term Workers
Who Exhaust Employment Insurance Benefits (PDF - 917K, 33 pages)
By Ross Finney et al.
This research has two main goals. The first is to track those individuals who exhausted a spell of regular Employment Insurance (EI) benefits during the 1990s and early into the new millennium in order to investigate the labour market outcomes in their post-EI periods. We focus particularly on individuals who experienced an extended work period prior to receiving EI benefits. The second objective is to examine whether there have been shifts in these patterns following the numerous reforms to EI and Social Assistance (SA) that took place in the 1990s.

Fixing the Hole in Employment Insurance:
Temporary Income Assistance for the Unemployed (PDF - 859K, 35 pages)
By Michael Mendelson and Ken Battle
(...) At present, welfare is the only resort for the unemployed in financial need who are not eligible for Employment Insurance. But welfare is a highly stigmatizing and invasive program. We have therefore proposed the development of an income-tested program ‘between’ welfare and Employment Insurance which would provide limited and temporary financial assistance to those in need who are actively engaged in job search.

Trading Places : Single Adults Replace Lone Parents
as the New Face of Social Assistance in Canada (PDF - 1.4MB, 32 pages)
By John Stapleton and Vass Bednar
This paper suggests that social and economic policies should be implemented and existing programs should be reworked in order to address the needs of single adults as the newly vulnerable in Canada. The paper also calls on government to improve access to unemployment and social assistance data for future research.

Hidden Regional Differentiation:
EI and Unequal Federal Support for Low Income Workers (PDF - 850K, 27 pages)
By Jon Medow
Analysis of regional differentiation in EI weekly benefit calculation and the uneven federal approach to support of low income workers.

More selected site content from
the Mowat Centre EI Task Force - this link takes you lower down on the page you're now reading.

Government launches Employment Insurance rate-setting consultations
News Release
August 18, 2011
(...) The consultations will focus on how the EI rate-setting mechanism can be further improved to ensure more stable and predictable rates, while:
* Ensuring the EI program breaks even over time;
* Avoiding large cumulative surpluses or deficits; and
* Maintaining a transparent rate-setting process.
(...) As previously announced, a web-based consultation process will invite written recommendations.

Individuals interested in participating in the consultations
online are invited to do so through the main consultation link:
http://www.fin.gc.ca/activty/consult/eiprs-etcac-eng.asp

Closing date of this consultation is November 30, 2011.
These consultations are open to anybody interested in participating.
Submissions can be emailed to ei-consultations-ae@fin.gc.ca

Related link:

EI Premiums Come Full Circle
By Andrew Jackson
September 9, 2010
For reasons that escape me, the Globe ran a headline front page story today [see above] on what all fiscal policy and Employment Insurance wonks have known to be true for some time. Under current legislation, and as announced in the 2009 Budget, the EI premium rate set by a supposedly autonomous but tightly constrained new body will rise by 15 cents per $100 of insured earnings for workers, and by 21 cents per $100 of earnings for employers in January. This is the maximum increase allowed, and the maximum increase is required since premiums must rise to balance revenues and expenditures if the fund has no surplus. Premiums must rise, that is, unless the government decides to exercise its right to unilaterally set the premium rate, which it does not intend to do. This is a new chapter in an old story which brings us full circle. Once again, the federal government will be deliberately running annual EI account surpluses to reduce the public debt. Minister Flaherty is taking a rather big play out of Paul Martin’s book.
Source:
Progressive Economics Forum Blog

Ottawa ends enhanced EI program
September 9, 2010
By Tanya Talaga
Ontario workers who lose their jobs next week will receive less employment insurance. As of Saturday (September 11), Ottawa will cancel an extra five weeks of regular EI benefits and end a program that provided up to an additional 20 weeks of benefits for longer-serving employees. (...) Last year, Prime Minister Stephen Harper enhanced regular EI benefits for laid off workers by five weeks in response to the crippling of Canada’s job market during the economic downturn. Ottawa also enhanced benefits for longer-serving employees by up to 20 weeks. Five weeks of benefits roughly equals $1,768 on average — EI claims are based on 55 per cent of a person’s income. Twenty weeks is a lost $7,072.
Source:
Toronto Star

Related links:

Government of Canada news release announcing
the extended EI benefits in September 2009:

Government of Canada intends to table legislation to
extend Employment Insurance benefits for long-tenured workers
September 14, 2009
...the Government of Canada has given notice that it intends to introduce legislation that would temporarily provide additional Employment Insurance (EI) regular benefits to unemployed long-tenured workers. These are individuals who have worked and paid EI premiums for a significant period of time and have previously made limited use of EI regular benefits.
Source:
Canada News Centre

----------

From Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC),
the federal department responsible for EI:

Extended Employment Insurance
regular benefits for long tenured workers
Fact Sheet
Web page dated 2009-11-25

Source:
Employment Insurance (HRSDC)

Help Wanted: How Well did the EI Program Respond During Recent Recessions?
September 8, 2010
This Mowat Note assesses how well Canada’s Employment Insurance system performed during the most recent recession compared to previous recessions, focusing on regional inequities. (...) The analysis reveals that regional differences in coverage between provinces were significant. In Ontario and British Columbia in 2009, only 38 per cent and 39 per cent (respectively) of the unemployed were receiving benefits, while in some other provinces, over 90 per cent of the unemployed were receiving benefits.

Full text (PDF - 335K, 16 pages)
By Matthew Mendelsohn & Jon Medow
September 2010

Source:
Mowat Centre for Policy Innovation (University of Toronto)
The Mowat Centre for Policy Innovation has been set up to help inform and revitalize Canada’s public policy agenda, given new Canadian and global realities. This includes questioning many of the assumptions that underlie our current approaches, while ensuring that all of us continue to share a sense of common citizenship, benefit from equality of opportunity, and have access to all the benefits of being Canadian

Related link:

A disguised welfare scheme
By Lorne Gunter
September 10, 2010
(...) Released Wednesday by the University of Toronto's Mowat Centre for Policy Innovation, the study [on Employment Insurance disparity] shows that during the 2008-09 recession, Ontario and Western workers received half the benefits per capita that unemployed workers in Atlantic Canada and Quebec received.

According to researchers, only 38% of unemployed workers in Ontario and 39% in B.C. received benefits, despite those provinces being among the hardest hit with job losses. And while 42% of Canada's unemployed lived in Ontario, laid-off workers in that province received only 25% of training funds available through EI.

Source:
National Post

From The Daily
[Statistics Canada]:

Employment Insurance Coverage Survey, 2009
June 10, 2010
Among the 1.04 million unemployed individuals who contributed to the Employment Insurance (EI) program in 2009, 857,000 had a recent job separation that met the EI program criteria. Of those, 739,000 or 86.2% were eligible to receive regular EI benefits because they worked enough hours, up from 82.2% in 2008.
- includes links to three tables:
* Coverage and eligibility of the unemployed for Employment Insurance benefits, 2009
* Coverage and eligibility of the unemployed for Employment Insurance benefits by sex, 2009
* Coverage and eligibility of the unemployed for Employment Insurance benefits, by province, 2009

EI Monitoring and Assessment Report 2009
Posted to the HRSDC website in April 2010
The 2009 Employment Insurance Monitoring and Assessment Report focuses on the period April 1, 2008 to March 31, 2009. The Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development, tabled the report in Parliament on April 29, 2010. The report, prepared by the Canada Employment Insurance Commission, monitors and assesses the impacts of the Employment Insurance program on the economy, communities and individuals.
Table of contents:
* Chapter 1 of this report provides an overview of the Canadian labour market in 2007/08.
* Chapter 2 is an overview of EI benefits (income benefits) under Part I of the Employment Insurance Act for the same period.
* Chapter 3 gives information about the support provided to unemployed workers through active re-employment measures, known as Employment Benefits and Support Measures
* Chapter 4 presents information on EI program administration and service delivery.
* Chapter 5 analyzes the impacts and effectiveness of the EI program based on administrative data, internal and external research, and evaluative studies.

Highlights
* Lowest employment growth in 15 years, due to the global recession in 2008/09
* Access to benefits was high among those who contributed to the program.
* Regular EI claims increased in 2008/09, in the midst of the first recession since 1991/92
* Total regular and special benefits paid increased for both men and women
* Maternity and parental claims increased
* Fishing claims continued to decrease
* There was a significant increase in the number of Work Sharing agreements
* Active employment measures helped Canadians prepare for, obtain and maintain employment

Source:
Employment Insurance Monitoring and Assessment Reports
NOTE: this page of the HRSDC website contains direct links to the reports for 2009, 2008 and 2007 *only*, along with the following friendly rejoinder:
"If you would like to request copies of the previous Monitoring and Assessment Reports, please contact the Publications/Distribution Unit."
That's not accountability, that's obstruction. People should never have to divulge their identity to access a public report.
Shame on you, HRSDC.

* Employment Insurance Regulations

* Employment Insurance Act

* Canada Gazette: Canada Employment Insurance Commission

Source:
Human Resources and Skills Development Canada
HRSDC is responsible for the administration of EI in Canada.

Ontario seeks Ottawa's help as welfare cases spike
Province calling for national standard for accessing
Employment Insurance payments as laid-off workers exhaust their federal benefits
March 15, 2010
By Bill Curry
"(...) Ontario in particular is calling on Ottawa to step in with a further expansion of federal EI so that provinces and workers are treated the same no matter where they live in Canada. Because EI is easier to get in regions of historically high unemployment, the province says many Ontarians who lost their jobs during the recession were left out."
Source:
The Globe and Mail

What happens when Employment Insurance runs out?
February 15, 2010
By Carol Goar
"[People who have] exhausted their employment insurance benefits (...) were largely ignored in Ottawa's stimulus package. The 2009 federal budget extended EI benefits for a mere five weeks. Last September, to alleviate public pressure, the government added a 5-to-20-week top-up for older workers. (...) EI exhaustees are by no means the worst-off victims of the recession. But their plight provides an early glimpse of what Canadians can expect from Ottawa, as they face as a long, debilitating job drought.
[ more columns by Carol Goar ]
Source:
The Toronto Star

EI system failing recession “stress test”—report
News Release
January 25, 2010
OTTAWA—Canada’s Employment Insurance system is failing the “stress test” of the recession and fixing it must be a key priority in the upcoming federal budget, says a new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA). According to the report, even as the EI system became easier to access the number of unemployed Canadians not in receipt of EI benefits jumped from 650,760 in October 2008 to 777,4000 in October 2009.“Many unemployed workers have fallen through the cracks of the EI system,” says Andrew Jackson, Chief Economist with the Canadian Labour Congress and a CCPA Research Associate. “In October 2009, 51% of unemployed Canadians were collecting EI benefits—and just 41% in Ontario.”

Complete report:
Is EI Working for Canada’s Unemployed?
Analyzing The Great Recession (PDF - 348K, 8 pages)
January 2010
By Andrew Jackson

Source:
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA)
The CCPA is an independent, non-partisan research institute concerned with issues of social and economic justice. Founded in 1980, the CCPA is one of Canada’s leading progressive voices in public policy debates. By combining solid research with extensive outreach, we work to enrich democratic dialogue and ensure Canadians know there are workable solutions to the issues we face.

Notice of Intent – Fairness for the Self Employed Act
December 2009
The Canada Employment Insurance Commission is contemplating amendments to the Employment Insurance Regulations to reflect the amendments to the Employment Insurance Act (EI Act) contained in Bill C-56, the Fairness for the Self-Employed Act, which received Royal Assent on December 15, 2009. Bill C-56 provides EI special benefits, which are maternity, parental, sickness and compassionate care benefits, to self-employed persons on a voluntary basis. To the extent possible, these benefits will mirror the special benefits currently available to paid employees already covered under the existing Employment Insurance Act. For more information or to provide comments on the proposed amendments, please consult the Notice of Intent in the Canada Gazette.

* Employment Insurance Regulations

* Employment Insurance Act

* Bill C-56, the Fairness for the Self-Employed Act (Fact sheet)

* Fairness for the Self-Employed Act passed by Parliament (December 16, 2009)

* Canada Gazette: Canada Employment Insurance Commission

Source:
Human Resources and Skills Development Canada

EI: Evidence of Exhaustion?
Posted by Erin Weir
October 27, 2009
Analysis by Erin Weir
Today’s Employment Insurance (EI) figures indicate that, in August, 23,000 more Canadians filed EI claims but 19,000 fewer received EI benefits. The most optimistic possibility is that all of the workers who stopped receiving benefits got jobs. Indeed, the Labour Force Survey indicates that total employment rose by 27,000 in August.
Source:
Progressive Economics Blog

Government of Canada intends to table legislation
to extend Employment Insurance benefits for long-tenured workers
September 14, 2009
The Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development, and the Honourable Jean-Pierre Blackburn, Minister of National Revenue and Minister of State (Agriculture), today announced that the Government of Canada has given notice that it intends to introduce legislation that would temporarily provide additional Employment Insurance (EI) regular benefits to unemployed long-tenured workers. These are individuals who have worked and paid EI premiums for a significant period of time and have previously made limited use of EI regular benefits. (...) This new measure is designed to provide additional support to workers who have paid EI premiums for years and made limited use of the program, while they look for jobs in a recovering economy. It is a temporary measure, which builds on those introduced in Canada’s Economic Action Plan. (...) Through the Economic Action Plan, the Government of Canada has also implemented measures to support all unemployed Canadians. These measures include providing nationally five extra weeks of EI regular benefits, increasing the maximum duration of benefits from 45 to 50 weeks in regions of high unemployment, protecting jobs through the Work-Sharing program, and freezing EI premiums for 2010 at the same rate as 2009 to provide economic stimulus.
Source:
Canadian Government News Centre

Related links:

EI Woes
By Armine Yalnizyan
September 18th, 2009
The latest changes to EI to be introduced by the Conservatives do almost nothing for the shock troops of the labour market, those who were first felled when the recession hit last year. Bill C-50 will pass – whether or not it is fast-tracked today or “well-considered” in committee depends on how the procedural tactics imbedded in the bill are handled by all of the opposition parties – but it is a resounding bust for those whose benefits are due to run out just about now.
Source:
Relentlessly Progressive Economics Blog
[ Progressive Economics Forum ]
Economic policy-making and economics instruction in Canada have both increasingly come to reflect a conservative, free-market perspective. There is an urgent need to promote an alternative, progressive economics community in Canada.Over 125 progressive economists—working in universities, the labour movement, and activist research organizations—have joined forces to make our collective, critical perspective heard. We have formed the Progressive Economics Forum. [ About PEF ]

Also from Armine at PEF:

Employment Insurance Reforms - Unfinished Business of the Recession
By Armine Yalnizyan
September 14, 2009
With their backs once again to the wall, the Conservatives today announced that they will, at long last, propose additional measures to help the unemployed, something almost everyone inside and outside Parliament has been asking them to do for the better part of a year. They will extend employment insurance benefits by another 5 to 20 weeks for those who qualify to their new rules, a move they claim will help about 190,000 unemployed Canadians – people who are already protected by Employment Insurance provisions, but are running out of time. But they will only qualify for the new help if they meet all sorts of other conditions that make them the “deserving” unemployed in the Conservatives’ eyes – long-term tenure at their job, and not having made a claim for help in the past.
A little reality check is in order...
Source:
Relentlessly Progressive Economics Blog
[ Progressive Economics Forum ]
Economic policy-making and economics instruction in Canada have both increasingly come to reflect a conservative, free-market perspective. There is an urgent need to promote an alternative, progressive economics community in Canada.Over 125 progressive economists—working in universities, the labour movement, and activist research organizations—have joined forces to make our collective, critical perspective heard. We have formed the Progressive Economics Forum. [ About PEF ]

Conservatives buy some time
Election tension eases as NDP indicates it will likely back government over EI improvements
September 15, 2009
OTTAWA–Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives set the stage for their first parliamentary survival test on Friday, but the threatened political showdown that could lead to an early election appeared to be losing steam.
Source:
Toronto Star

Supporting Working Canadian Families:
The Role of Employment Insurance Special Benefits (PDF - 105K, 33 pages)
By Michael J. Prince
September 2009
This paper explores the Employment Insurance (EI) policy objective of encouraging long-term labour market attachment by providing temporary income support during absences from work due to life events such as illness, childbirth and caring for a terminally ill family member. The study was undertaken as part of an ongoing assessment of the policies and programs of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, which is examining how EI may need to adjust to better align with current shifts in the labour market and society. The report examines five EI special benefits: the Family Supplement, Sickness, Parental, Maternity and Compassionate Care. The paper also includes a chronology of major developments in family-related benefits in EI policy from 1941 to 2006. Because EI special benefits operate at the intersection of labour market policy, income security policy and family policy, these benefits enable a better balance between work and family life, and have important implications for each of these policy domains.

Source:
Caledon Institute of Social Policy
The Caledon Institute of Social Policy does rigorous, high-quality research and analysis; seeks to inform and influence public opinion and to foster public discussion on poverty and social policy; and develops and promotes concrete, practicable proposals for the reform of social programs at all levels of government and of social benefits provided by employers and the voluntary sector.

Tories to introduce own EI reform
Human Resources Minister says changes to come in fall session;
Liberals question why proposals weren't made to the bipartisan working group
By Rhéal Séguin (no relation)
Quebec City
September 7, 2009
Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives are planning to unveil an unemployment insurance reform package in the coming session of Parliament, in effect undermining one of the Liberal party's justifications for a fall election. A bipartisan working group on EI failed to agree to changes to the program over the summer, with the Liberals accusing the Tories of not bringing any proposals to the table. Last week, when the Liberals announced their intention of defeating the government and said they would no longer attend the working group, Conservative committee member Diane Finley chastised them for walking away from the discussions. (...) The [proposed Conservative] move to introduce their own EI plan suggests the Harper Conservatives, gearing up for an election campaign, want to shift the blame onto the opposition for failing to help the growing ranks of Canada's unemployed. (...) Yesterday Marlene Jennings, one of the two Liberal MPs on the committee, accused the government of acting in bad faith by now tabling proposals that could easily have been debated by the EI reform panel.
Source:
Globe and Mail

EI: The Decline Resumes
May 20, 2010
Commentary on EI stats by Erin Weir
Statistics Canada reports that, after February’s pause, Employment Insurance (EI) resumed its contraction in March. Specifically, 24,200 fewer Canadians received regular EI benefits. The key question is whether these unemployed workers found jobs or simply ran out of benefits.

Also by Erin Weir:

Stingy EI Benefits
By Erin Weir
April 22, 2010
This morning, Statistics Canada released Employment Insurance (EI) figures for February. These figures show slightly more recipients nationally, but somewhat fewer recipients among provinces. (...) The status quo is that more than 1.5 million Canadians are officially unemployed, but that fewer than 700,000 receive EI benefits. Continuing that state of affairs is a poor outcome.

Employment Insurance Runs Out
February 19, 2010
The number of Canadians receiving Employment Insurance (EI) benefits plummeted in December. The drop of 40,100 was the largest monthly decrease in years. One would anticipate some decline in the number of EI recipients as the job market begins to recover. But the magnitude of December’s decline suggests that, in addition to those former recipients who found work, many more simply ran out of benefits. The Labour Force Survey indicates that employment decreased by 2,600 in December. Therefore, it seems unlikely that 40,100 EI recipients found jobs during that month. (...) Fewer than half (47.8 %) of unemployed Canadians received EI benefits in December.

Source:
Blog : Relentlessly Progressive Economics
[ Progressive Economics Forum ]
The Progressive Economics Forum aims to promote the development of a progressive economics community in Canada. The PEF brings together over 125 progressive economists, working in universities, the labour movement, and activist research organizations.

[ more postings on Employment Insurance from the Progressive Economics Forum website ]

From the Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics file:

Mind the gap
November 9, 2009
Canada's monthly unemployment statistics have a significant gap that must be filled. They do not reveal the number of people whose employment-insurance benefits have expired and who are still out of work. (...) People who have dropped off the unemployment rolls - and are thus no longer included in the numbers - may have found new jobs, but they may also have simply exhausted their benefits. That shifts them into a much more harrowing situation where they are likely facing dire financial straits and may be forced to consider welfare. But we have no way of knowing if that is the case. (...)This is not just an issue of concern to economists interested in crunching the numbers to make their latest projections. It is about vital data that can direct governments and social agencies in their design of policies and their preparations to deliver resources to those most in need. Without these numbers, for example, no one knows how many people may be forced to seek welfare in the short term - a key issue for the provinces and municipalities that fund and administer the welfare system.
Source:
Globe and Mail

Related links:

Employment Insurance data don't count those who run out
Without statistics on the number of jobless Canadians whose employment insurance
benefits have been exhausted, it's difficult to gauge how many are headed for welfare.
By Tavia Grant - October 26, 2009
Source:
Globe and Mail

StatCan tables by subject:
Employment insurance, social assistance and other transfers
Source:
Statistics Canada

From The Globe and Mail:

Employment Insurance data don't count those who run out
Without statistics on the number of jobless Canadians whose employment insurance
benefits have been exhausted, it's difficult to gauge how many are headed for welfare.
By Tavia Grant
October 26, 2009
In a country that dutifully tallies everything from egg sales to steel wire production, one crucial piece of the economic puzzle is missing. When Statistics Canada releases its monthly report on employment insurance today, notable will be the lack of information on the number of unemployed who have exhausted their EI benefits. This is frustrating the efforts of economists and also complicating public policy, because how can governments and support agencies respond if the full extent of the problem is unknown? “We don't know whether people are departing for new employment, or if they are exhausting benefits and persisting in the unemployment pool – and that is problematic,” said Grant Bishop, an economist at Toronto-Dominion Bank. “There could definitely be better disclosure on the character of EI.” Mr. Bishop noted that this “poor real-time gauge” of how many unemployed are without income has implications for how governments plan the rates and delivery of social assistance. Currently no federal body publishes timely statistics showing how often EI benefits run out or welfare rates across the country, which economists expect to rise.

Employment Insurance: A Tale of Two Provinces
Posted by Erin Weir
August 25, 2009
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…
It would be welcome news if the number of Canadians receiving Employment Insurance (EI) benefits increased because of a proactive policy decision to expand this program to combat the recession. In fact, the ongoing rise in EI beneficiaries simply reflects the deterioration of Canada’s labour market. We are still in “the worst of times.” Every month, tens of thousands more Canadians are laid off than can find new jobs.
TIP : Click the link above and scroll down the next page to see a table showing Employment Insurance coverage across Canada in June 2009 (seasonally-adjusted figures). For each province and for Canada, the table shows the number of EI recipients, the number of people who are unemployed and the resulting percentage of EI coverage. Where would you prefer to live - Ontario, where 41.3% of unemployed people qualify for EI, or Newfoundland and Labrador, where EI covered 112.4% of unemployed workers in June 2009? [No, this is not a typo.]
Source:
Progressive Economics Forum Blog
[ other posts by Erin Weir ]
[ Progressive Economics Forum ]

Related link:

EI Monitoring and Assessment Report 2008
Source:
Human Resources and Skills Development Canada(HRSDC)
NOTE: numbers will differ between StatCan's 2008 EI coverage report and the EI assessment report "...because StatCan uses seasonally unadjusted data on unemployment and EI beneficiaries, while HRSDC uses seasonally adjusted unemployment data. StatCan uses seasonally unadjusted data on EI beneficiaries because they prefer to use comparable seasonally unadjusted data for unemployment."

Tories would leave jobless workers behind
August 12, 2009
By Mike Savage
Liberal MP for Dartmouth–Cole Harbour
and Marlene Jennings
Liberal MP for Notre-Dame-de-Grâce–Lachine
On June 17, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff and Prime Minister Stephen Harper agreed to form a working group that would look at reforms to employment insurance to improve fairness in eligibility requirements for Canadians laid off during this recession. (...) With 58 different [Employment Insurance eligibility] standards across the country, there are communities where one person is eligible for benefits while her neighbour across the street with the same number of hours worked will not qualify. This makes no sense, as the Prime Minister admitted back in June. This is why many of Canada's premiers have supported the call for a single national standard for EI eligibility. They are joined by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, the Canadian Labour Congress, TD Bank economists and the C.D. Howe Institute, among others.

Marlene Jennings and Mike Savage are Liberal members of the Employment Insurance Working Group.
Source:
The Toronto Star

Premiers Agree on EI Reforms and Call for a Retirement Income Summit (PDF - 27K, 2 pages)
August 6, 2009
REGINA – Premiers agreed on the urgent need to modernize the Employment Insurance system to support a modern workforce in a modern economy and called for a national summit on retirement income
Source:
Council of the Federation
On December 5, 2003, Canada’s Premiers proudly announced in Charlottetown the creation of the Council of the Federation. It is a new institution for a new era in collaborative intergovernmental relations. The Council of the Federation was created by Premiers because they believe it is important for provinces and territories to play a leadership role in revitalizing the Canadian federation and building a more constructive and cooperative federal system.

Related links:

This time, Ottawa isn't the target
August 7, 2009
By Jim Coyle
(...) As they formally opened the Council of the Federation yesterday, Canada's premiers had an uncharacteristically meaty agenda and unusually kind words for their own federal government. Instead, the hottest blasts were aimed at the United States and the protectionist Buy America initiatives there that threaten Canadian access to those markets. (...) The premiers have sketched out principles to modernize the employment insurance scheme, reviewed stimulus spending of levels unimaginable when they met a year ago, and endorsed McGuinty's call for a national summit on pensions.
Source:
Toronto Star

Grits, Tories squabble over EI costs:
Cost has become the latest flashpoint between Conservatives and Liberals
in their potentially election-provoking squabble over employment insurance reform.
Federal officials claimed Thursday that a Liberal proposal to ease access to jobless benefits would cost more than $4 billion a year to implement. But Liberals charged the governing Tories have "grossly inflated" the number of unemployed who'd be eligible for EI under their plan, thereby producing "astronomical costs" to justify their flat rejection of the proposal.
Source:
CBC

Lorne Gunter: The scam we call 'Employment Insurance'
August 7, 2009
By Lorne Gunter
There is almost nothing about Canada's Employment Insurance (EI) program that is as it appears. Even its name is a dodge. The plan does not insure against employment; that would be absurd. It insures against unemployment. Yet, in keeping with the disingenuous nature of the program, the name was changed to EI (from Unemployment Insurance) more than a decade ago in the naive hope that somehow the superficial switch in branding would encourage beneficiaries to find and keep jobs.
Source:
National Post

There's jobless, and officially jobless
When Statscan issues its jobs data today [see related link below], it won't tally those who have given up or postponed their searches
By Tavia Grant
August 7, 2009
(...) When Statistics Canada reports its monthly job count today, many unemployed people (...) who have either postponed or given up their job search won't be tallied. That's because people who haven't hunted for jobs in the past month aren't counted as unemployed or as part of the labour force. The gap between the actual unemployment rate and the official statistics is likely to widen in the coming months, as more people give up their job search to go back to school, or wait until jobs are more abundant, economists say. Many more workers will settle for part-time jobs, even though they want full-time positions. (...) When involuntary part-time workers are factored into the equation, Canada's unemployment rate would have been 11.3 per cent in June, according to Statscan's so-called R8 series on "underutilized" labour, which is not seasonally adjusted. That's well above the 8.1-per-cent level it showed in the same month last year, though down from the 12.4 per cent it reached in March.
Source:
Globe and Mail
[ Related link:
Labour Force Survey, July 2009 - Statistics Canada, August 7, 2009 ]

EI benefits at record levels
Ontario, Alberta show biggest hike
July 29, 2009
The number of people receiving regular employment insurance benefits jumped to the highest level on record in May, with Alberta and Ontario showing the biggest increases, Statistics Canada said Tuesday.
EI beneficiaries were up 9.2 per cent to 778,700 during the month, after a 3.7 per cent rise in April, the federal agency said.
Source:
Financial Post

Employment Insurance (EI) Claims Surge
By Erin Weir
July 28, 2009
The worst news in today’s Employment Insurance (EI) figures is that new benefit claims hit a record high. Rising numbers of unemployed workers and hence EI beneficiaries are an unsurprising result of a deteriorating labour market. However, the increase the number of new EI claims suggests that the pace of deterioration is worsening rather than easing. Despite signs of a nascent recovery of economic output, today’s figures suggest that Canada’s job market will remain grim for some time to come.

Source:
Progressive Economics Forum Blog
[ other posts by Erin Weir ]
[ Progressive Economics Forum
The Progressive Economics Forum aims to promote the development of a progressive economics community in Canada. The PEF brings together over 125 progressive economists, working in universities, the labour movement, and activist research organizations. ]

Canada’s EI benefits well below OECD average: study
Press Release
June 30, 2009
OTTAWA—Employment Insurance benefits in Canada are well below the OECD average, says a new study released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA). The study, by economist Lars Osberg, finds that in terms of access, benefit duration, and income replacement levels, EI in Canada falls far below most other OECD countries and below the levels of Canadian unemployment insurance in past recessions.

Complete report:

Canada’s Declining Social Safety Net:
The Case for EI Reform (PDF - 592K, 28 pages)
June 2009
By Lars Osberg
"(...) Between October 2008 and May 2009, 363,000 Canadians lost their jobs — and the OECD projects unemployment to rise to 9.8% in 2010. In this global recession, the weakness of Canada’s Employment Insurance (EI) system has become a glaring federal policy omission. This study looks at income protection for the unemployed, federally and elsewhere, and makes a strong case for EI reforms." (Excerpt from the Executive Summary)

Source:
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives is an independent, non-partisan research institute concerned with issues of social and economic justice. Founded in 1980, the CCPA is one of Canada’s leading progressive voices in public policy debates.

[ more CCPA reports and studies ]
[ all CCPA publications ]

Western Premiers Agree on a Plan for EI Reform
2009 Western Premiers' Conference
Dawson City, Yukon - June 17-19, 2009
Communique
Friday, June 19
DAWSON CITY – At the 2009 Western Premiers’ Conference, Premiers will work in partnership with the federal government to make employment insurance fair for all Canadians.They welcomed the appointment of the federal working group on Employment Insurance (EI) and committed to making a joint submission to the committee.
Source:
Canadian Intergovernmental
Conference Secretariat

FromThe Globe and Mail:

Provincial welfare program under strain
Number of two-parent families collecting assistance up 77 per cent compared to April of last year
By Justine Hunter
June 2, 2009
Just days after B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell launched a national campaign to broaden Canada's employment insurance scheme, new statistics show his provincial welfare program is under growing strain. And families are bearing the brunt of the recession in B.C., the new provincial statistics on income assistance show.

B.C. Premier demands single EI standard
By Patrick Brethour
May 30, 2009
The federal government needs to overhaul a “clearly discriminatory” employment insurance system to help the swelling ranks of the jobless in Western Canada, says British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell. The Premier is adding his voice to the chorus pressing the federal government to rewrite the rulebook for employment insurance, and to create a single national standard for how long Canadians need to work before becoming eligible for payments. “Canadians are Canadians, and they should be treated equally,” he told The Globe and Mail. Right now, there are dramatic discrepancies in the EI system, with those in areas of historically low unemployment having to work more than twice as long to qualify for payments as those in regions with the highest levels of joblessness. That means it's much more likely for laid-off workers in such low-unemployment areas to fall short of qualifying for EI, even though a similar worker in a more disadvantaged area would receive payments.

Ottawa and the provinces must extend a helping hand to workers
We need to eliminate regional discrepancies and co-operate to extend EI benefits
By Gordon Campbell (Premier of British Columbia)
May 29. 2009
With all of the discussion these days about employment insurance reforms, it is timely to consider affordable improvements that will assist families and unemployed individuals who are struggling to get through this global recession. First, we need to eliminate the regional discrepancies in eligibility rules that are particularly unfair to Western Canadians. (...) Second, we need to find an affordable way of extending EI benefits to help workers who have either recently exhausted their benefits or who are about to lose their EI income. This could be achieved through a new cost-sharing partnership between the federal and provincial governments that would redirect some provincial income assistance funding to help the federal government fund extended EI benefits. (...) Provincial governments can be part of the solution by offering to partner with the federal government in extending individuals' maximum EI benefits. Instead of making income assistance payments to those people, they could offer to transfer that funding to the federal government to help fund the cost of extended EI benefits. (...) The federal government and provinces should work in partnership to do the best we can for all of Canada's workers, regardless of where they live or are employed. They pay equivalent national taxes and all should receive equivalent national benefits. We must unite in providing Canadians more effective support as we move through these trying times.

Uninsured: Why EI is Failing Working Ontarians
News Release
Posted May 25, 2009
(...) In 2008, approximately 1 in 5 unemployed workers in Toronto were eligible for EI. While unemployed workers were struggling to make ends meet, the accumulated surplus of EI premiums soared to over $54 billion.

UNINSURED: Why EI is Failing Working Ontarians (PDF - 2.7MB, 25 pages)
May 2009

Source:
Community Social Planning Council of Toronto
The Community Social Planning Council of Toronto is committed to independent social planning at the local and city-wide levels in order to improve the quality of life for all people in Toronto. It is committed to diversity, social and economic justice, and active citizen participation in all aspects of community life.

Is Canada's Employment Insurance Program Adequate? (PDF - 120K, 16 pages)
April 30, 2009
Special Report
Source:
TD Economics

More TD Economics reports

Employment Insurance and Women: What You Should Know (PDF - 130K, 6 pages)
[* includes links to nearly three dozen online resources]
April 2009

Table of contents:
1. Fewer Women Qualify
2. Accumulating Those Magic Hours
3. When Caring Conflicts With Work
4. Women’s Benefits Are Low
5. Inadequate Sickness Benefits
6. A Poor Plan For Parents
7. Quebec Parents Have It
8. Inadequate Caregiving Leave
9. What Women Want
10. In Support of Effective Policies
Source:
New Brunswick Advisory Council on the Status of Women
NOTE: the home page contains links to several dozen more reports

Gender aspects of Employment Insurance (PDF - 81K, 20 pages)
By Ken Battle
March 2009
Ken Battle appeared before the Commons Standing Committee on the Status of Women. His presentation discusses gender aspects of the Employment Insurance program.
Source:
Caledon Institute of Social Policy

Also from Caledon:

Is Canada’s Employment Insurance Program Adequate? (PDF - 17K, 3 pages)
Press Release
April 30, 2009
TORONTO -- The sizeable discrepancy of Employment Insurance (EI) eligibility requirements between regions must be addressed, according to a new report by TD Economics. But its authors warn that any
reform must be balanced against undesirable effects such as the potential for increased dependency on EI and longer-term costs. (...) Currently the eligibility for and duration of EI benefits depends on the unemployment rate in the region in which the unemployed worker resides. The number of hours required to qualify for EI – known as the Variable Entrance Requirement (VER) -- increases if the regional unemployment rate is in a lower range. (...) In the immediate term, the report recommends “flattening” the eligibility structure whereby individuals qualify with 560 hours in all regions with less than 10 percent unemployment. Such a move would represent a cost of $500 million per year to the program.

Full Report (PDF - 120K, 16 pages)
By Derek Burleton and Grant Bishop
- includes the executive summary

Executive Summary (PDF - 19K, 2 pages)

Source:
TD Economics

EI Financing: We Told You So
Posted by Erin Weir
April 23, 2009
On the first of this month, I appeared before the Senate’s Standing Committee on National Finance regarding the Employment Insurance (EI) provisions of the 2009 Budget Implementation Act. The Senate recently posted the transcript online. A fellow panellist was Michel Bédard, former Chief Actuary of the EI Fund. Last year, he and I appeared in the same panel before the same committee regarding the 2008 Budget Implementation Act. We both argued then that, if unemployment increased, the government’s quasi-reserve of $2 billion would quickly prove insufficient to maintain (let alone improve) EI benefits without hiking premiums. Budget 2009 implicitly acknowledges that this concern was valid. Specifically, it suggests that a further $4.5 billion will be needed to freeze premiums for two years given higher unemployment.

Related links:

Proceedings of the
Standing Senate Committee on National Finance
Issue 5 - Evidence - Meeting of April 1, 2009
Panel members:
Michel Bédard, Member, Task Force on the Financing of Employment Insurance, Canadian Institute of Actuaries
Erin Weir, Economist, United Steelworkers
Phil Benson, a lobbyist with Teamsters Canada
Source:
Senate Standing Committee on National Finance - 40th Parliament, 2nd Session (January 26, 2009 - )

Frayed safety net for unemployed
Unequal access to jobless benefits worsens impact of `Great Recession'
By Michael Mendelson, Ken Battle and Sherri Torjman
[ Caledon Institute of Social Policy ]
April 21, 2009
An additional 41,000 Canadians were out of work this March, bringing unemployment close to one and a half million. This frightening number will almost certainly keep climbing in the next several months. Bailouts and building projects will help, but the essential program for most jobless Canadians remains the Employment Insurance system. The program was introduced in the wake of the Great Depression and got us through many difficult times since, most recently the recessions of 1982 and 1990. Is the program up to the challenge of the Great Recession of 2009? In the 1982 recession, jobless benefits helped 76 per cent of the unemployed. During the 1990 recession, fully 83 per cent received benefits. Today coverage is down to 43 per cent – half of what it was in 1990.

Canada's Shrinking Safety Net:
Employment Insurance in the Great Recession (PDF - 41K, 5 pages)
Michael Mendelson, Ken Battle and Sherri Torjman
April 2009
Belt-tightening changes made to Employment Insurance in the 1990s have decimated the program’s coverage over the years and substantially reduced the value of payments. Today only three in ten unemployed Canadians receive regular EI benefits in contrast to eight in ten in the last recession, in 1990. There is a gender gap in coverage, and it has widened. Both eligibility for benefits and the maximum duration of benefits vary widely from community to community and province to province, leading to unfair treatment of the unemployed. Caledon proposes several immediate changes to strengthen EI, including: a uniform set of rules governing entrance requirements and length of benefits, increasing the earnings-replacement rate from the current 55 to 70 percent of insurable earnings, and setting premium rates higher in good economic times and lower in bad times.
Source:
Caledon Institute of Social Policy

Jobless? Why You Might Not Get Employment Insurance
These days, far fewer unemployed are eligible.
'Reforms' fattened surpluses, failed to prepare for bad times say critics.
By Tom Sandborn
February 19, 2009
If you are one of the 129,000 Canadian workers who lost a job last month, maybe you take comfort that all those employment insurance payments were deducted from your previous paycheques. Now you can count on insurance payments to get you through tough times, right? Maybe not. The EI safety net features a lot more gaps than it did a decade and a half ago. By some measures, only 42 per cent of Canada's unemployed workers are receiving EI payments, roughly half the percentage covered during the late 1980s. Just when far more Canadians are poised to need it, the nation's unemployment insurance scheme is broken, say a growing chorus of critics.
Source:
The Tyee

From the Toronto Star:

Jobless rate shows EI reform needed
Editorial
February 7, 2009
With the loss of 129,000 jobs across Canada in January – a record for a single month – the spotlight has returned to the federal stimulus package and whether it goes far enough to address the current crisis. The $35 billion package, released as part of the federal budget on Jan. 27, contains some funding to help the jobless by enhancing skills training and extending Employment Insurance benefits for an extra five weeks. Unfortunately, however, a majority of unemployed Canadians are not eligible for Employment Insurance, often because they work on contract or part-time or in seasonal jobs that don't last long enough for them to qualify.

Flaherty faces five choices on EI
January 12, 2009
By Carol Goar
Canada's employment insurance system is outdated, inequitable, stingy and at serious risk of insolvency in a protracted economic downturn. The dilemma facing Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, should he decide to fix it, is figuring out which problem to tackle first. He is not short of advice. Business lobbyists, union officials, municipal leaders, economists and social activists have all put forward their prescriptions in the run-up to this month's budget. But Flaherty can't say yes to everybody. Even if he were to make significant investment in jobless benefits – say $3 billion – he'd have to set priorities. The damage done by 30 years of cutting and dismantling can't be undone in one budget. The finance minister has five basic options...

Employment Insurance in desperate need of repair
January 9, 2009
By Carol Goar
For the first time since the Great Depression, Canada is heading into a serious recession with one of its economic stabilizers badly broken. Stabilizers are government programs that work automatically to moderate swings in the economic cycle. The three main ones are employment insurance, which provides a cushion for people who lose their jobs; welfare, which keeps people from hitting rock bottom; and income taxes, which decrease when people's earnings shrink. The one that is broken is employment insurance (although welfare is in sorry shape). If forecasters are right, 200,000 Canadians will lose their jobs this year. If current trends continue, just 108,000 will qualify for employment insurance benefits and 82,000 will actually receive them.

[ earlier articles by Carol Goar ]

Women shut out of Employment Insurance: Study
November 22, 2007
By Monica Townson & Kevin Hayes
TORONTO – Most women are getting shut out of Employment Insurance (EI) coverage in Canada, says a study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA). The gap between men's and women’s EI coverage is significant: 40 percent of unemployed men received EI benefits in 2004 while only 32 percent of unemployed women did. “Essentially, two in every three working women who pay into EI don’t receive a single penny in benefits if they lose their jobs,” says CCPA Research Associate Monica Townson, who co-authored Women and The Employment Insurance Program with Kevin Hayes.

Complete study:

Women and the Employment Insurance Program (PDF file - 796K, 40 pages)
Version française:
Les femmes et le programme d'assurance-emploi (fichier PDF - 781 Ko, 40 pages)

[ more CCPA reports and studies ]

Related link:

Employment Insurance short-changes women, study suggests
November 21, 2007
Canadian women are being unfairly short-changed by the country's Employment Insurance system, which was made more restrictive a decade ago and now boasts a multibillion-dollar surplus, a study concludes. The study for the left-leaning Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, to be released today, finds the qualification requirements for EI have left many women who lose their jobs out of pocket despite having paid their fair share of premiums.
Source:
Toronto Star

Oldie Goldies:
Employment Insurance in Canada: History, Structure and Issues
By Jay Makarenko
September 22, 2009
Employment insurance in Canada is a legacy of the Great Depression, and remains a pillar of the nation’s modern social programs. Since its creation in 1940, the program has undergone many significant evolutions, both philosophically and structurally. Moreover, debate over the program has remained constant throughout its existence, and is still present in contemporary political discourse. This feature provides an introduction to the history, administration, and issues relating to Employment Insurance in Canada.
---
Table of Contents:
* History of Employment Insurance in Canada - Historical overview of public employment insurance
* Administration of the Employment Insurance Program - Laws, bureaucracies, processes, and finances of employment insurance
* Issues Concerning Employment Insurance in Canada - Debates on the philosophy and structure of employment insurance
* Sources and Links to More Information - List of article sources and links to more on this topic

Source:
Mapleleafweb
Maple Leaf Web is a non-profit, non-partisan Canadian political education web-site that aims to provide educators, students and the attentive public with a credible source for political education and information.
NOTE : As of Jan. 17, 2011, after 11 years of publishing Canadian political educational materials on the Internet, Mapleleafweb.com will no longer be actively maintained.

Back to the Future?
(Links to related TV clips that I found quite by accident
as I was looking for something else on the CBC Digital Archives page):
The exhaustees (TV clip, 6:10)
Broadcast Date: Nov. 4, 1982
With no work to be found amidst sky-high unemployment rates in 1982, Jim Lees reluctantly joins a club that is welcoming thousands of new members a month. "Exhaustees," as the government calls them, are people whose unemployment benefits have run out. From a former salary of $2,300 monthly, Lees is now applying for welfare benefits of just $800 to support his wife and two daughters. In this CBC-TV clip, his wife Wendy admits that while it bothers her to be forced onto welfare, she isn't in a position to refuse it.
Unemployment hits Windsor autoworkers (TV clip, 13:55)
Broadcast Date: Jan. 5, 1958
Frank Blair has been without a job for eight months. In his hometown of Windsor, Ont., the father of two (soon to be three) is not alone: some 21,000 members of the local labour force are out of work in late 1957, half of them workers in the city's idled auto plants.
Links to more historical resources about UNemployment Insurance from the CBC Digital Archives:
* What is social security? (In 1945, a panel of military men and women discuss unemployment insurance as part of Canada's social security system.)
* On the Dole: Employment Insurance in Canada
* So you need to collect UI?
* UI gets richer in 1971
* Gainfully unemployed
* The pogey police
* Unemployment reaches all-time high
* A Maritime way of life?
* Forget Commission seeks UI reform
Source:
CBC Digital Archives
- Go to the Social Statistics Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/stats.htm

Report of the Commisssion of Inquiry on the Unemployment Insurance Act (link to the complete final report)
Date: 1962
Chair: Ernest C. Gill
[ Version française de ce document ]

Table of Contents [PDF 123 KB]
Chapters 1 – 3 [PDF 5.0 MB]
Chapters 4 – 5, Appendices [PDF 5.1 MB]

Commission of Inquiry on Unemployment Insurance
November 1986
Chair: Claude Forget
[ Version française de ce document ]

Summary Report

Table of Contents [PDF 29 KB]
Pages 1 – 42 [PDF 7.0 MB]
Pages 43 – 85 [PDF 3.5 MB]

Complete Report

Table of Contents [PDF 233 KB]
Part I Chapter 1 – Part II Chapter 5 [PDF 11.9 MB]
Part II Chapter 6 – Part IV Chapter 11 [PDF 10.4 MB]
Part IV Chapter 12, Appendices, Biographies of Commissioners, List of Staff and Consultants [PDF 5.4 MB]
Part V [PDF 6.4 MB]

Source:
Index to Federal Royal Commissions
[ Library and Archives Canada - LAC]

Measuring Trends in the Coverage of Unemployment Insurance and Employment Insurance (PDF - 92K, 28 pages)
Prepared by
Richard Shillington, Ph.D.
June 2001
Source:
Tristat Resources (Richard Shillington's website)
Not-So-Oldies but still Goldies:
From the
Task Force on Modernizing Income Security for Working Age Adults:
Time for a Fair Deal: Report of the Task Force on
Modernizing Income Security for Working-Age Adults (PDF file - 282K, 67 pages)
May 2006
(...) Recommendation 1:
The Task Force believes that Employment Insurance is and should remain the primary program for delivering income support to workers who are temporarily unemployed. The federal government should reform EI to address the significant decline in coverage of the unemployed and the related decline in access to employment supports and training offered under EI-Part II.(...)
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Employment Insurance: Research Summary for the
Task Force for Modernizing Income Security for Working Age Adults
Ontarians Can No Longer Count On Employment Insurance To Provide Temporary Income Between Jobs
Toronto and Ottawa Have Lowest Coverage in Canada (PDF - 613K, 11 pages)
October 6, 2005
By Jill Black and Richard Shillington
Highlights
- EI coverage has declined precipitously for a number of reasons, many to do with changes in the labour market that the program wasn't designed to handle; new initiatives should therefore be considered to fill the gap.
- Toronto and many other Ontario cities have extremely low EI coverage, likely due to high employment and high immigration; there is no comprehensive or definitive assessment of what is driving low coverage, but program changes in the 1990s clearly contributed to EI coverage becoming increasingly unbalanced. This needs to be understood better, and part of the solution may lie in EI program changes.
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Ontarians Can No Longer Count on Employment Insurance to Provide Temporary Income between Jobs
Toronto and Ottawa Have Lowest Coverage in Canada (PDF file - 68K, 2 pages)
Press Release
October 6, 2005
"The Task Force for Modernizing Income Security for Working Age Adults released its review of Employment Insurance (EI) today, revealing that EI no longer fulfils its role of providing temporary
income to most unemployed Canadians who are between jobs."
Source:
Task Force on Modernizing Income Security for Working Age Adults ("MISWAA")
MISWAA was formed in the fall of 2004 by the Toronto City Summit Alliance, a broad-based coalition of civic leaders in the Toronto region, and by St. Christopher House, a multi-service neighbourhood centre that works with low-income people in Toronto. The Task Force is a diverse group made-up of over fifty experts and leaders from major employers, policy institutes, labour unions, academia, community organizations, advocacy groups, foundations and governments, as well as individuals with first-hand knowledge of income security programs.
- incl. links to : In the News · Press Releases · Task Force and Working Group Members · Contact Us · Papers · Frequently Asked Questions
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Measuring Employment Insurance Effectiveness: Data Note (PDF - 71K, 7 pages)
Prepared by
Richard Shillington, Ph.D.
February 2005
Source:
Tristat Resources (Richard Shillington's website)

International

From the Los Angeles Times:

Unemployment benefits expire as Congress debates extension
Lawmakers are likely to take up the issue when they return from spring break next week. The sticking point is how to pay for an extension.
By Clement Tan
April 6, 2010
As unemployment benefits expired Monday for tens of thousands of jobless workers, Democrats and Republicans renewed their haggling over whether to vote for an extension when Congress returns from its spring break next week. At the heart of the dispute is whether the extension should be offset by spending cuts, as Republicans are demanding, or whether it constitutes an emergency, as Democrats say. The expiration means 212,000 unemployed people will lose benefits this week, according to figures provided by the National Employment Law Project.

Editorial
A federal balancing act
Congress won't resolve the federal deficit problem by arguing over emergency spending programs aimed at spurring the economy. The real problems are far larger.
April 18, 2010
Call it Congress' version of "lather, rinse, repeat." Last week, lawmakers approved a short-term extension of unemployment benefits after overcoming yet another GOP filibuster, the third such extension since December. The extension lasts only until early June, so Congress may soon be going through the same routine again. Republicans object to borrowing money to finance the extra benefits, while Democrats refuse to offset the additional spending by cutting other parts of the budget.

Source:
Los Angeles Times

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Unemployment benefits - from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Links to Information about
Unemployment Insurance
programs in each state in the U.S.
- from America's Service Locator

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National Employment Law Project
The National Employment Law Project (NELP) responds (to worker insecurity and inequality) by working to restore the promise of economic opportunity in the 21st century economy. (...) We partner with strong advocacy networks, grounded in the full range of stakeholders - grassroots groups and national organizations, worker centers and unions, policymakers and think tanks.

NELP Issues: Unemployment Insurance
In an increasingly volatile economy, working families need a strong unemployment insurance program - one that is there in hard times to help them pay the bills and find new jobs that meet their needs and aspirations. However, the unemployment insurance safety net has failed to keep pace with the changing labor force, especially the growth in women, part-time and low-wage workers. In response, policymakers in over half the states have adopted significant reforms in recent years to modernize their unemployment insurance (UI) programs.

Unemployed Workers Home
A special project of the National Employment Law Project

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Compared to Canada?

International unemployment rates:
how comparable are they? (PDF - 96K, 18 pages)
September 2001
Adjusted to U.S. concepts, the Canadian unemployment rate is reduced by 1 percentage point; effects of adjustments on European unemployment rates are smaller.
Source:
Department of Labor

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Unemployment compensation in a worldwide recession (PDF - 80K, 13 pages)
By W. Vroman and V. Brusentsev
June 2009
(International data)
Source:
The Urban Institute, Washington

Employment Insurance

L'assurance-emploi