Canadians are Benefiting from Improvements to the Employment Insurance Program

August 04, 2009

Ottawa – Ted Menzies, Member of Parliament for Macleod and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance, is pleased to announce the results to date on improvements to the Employment Insurance (EI) program, and to explain how these measures are supporting Canadians.

“Our Conservative Government is taking action to ensure that the EI program continues to help workers affected by the current global economic crisis, and we are seeing results,” said Menzies.  “We have made timely improvements to EI, providing longer EI benefits, more efficient service and support for training—and we are freezing EI premiums for 2010 at the same rate as 2009 to provide economic stimulus.”

More than 82 percent of Canadian workers now have easier access to and longer EI benefits than they did in October 2008.  Every month, the number of work hours needed to qualify for EI benefits, and the number of weeks of benefits people receive, are adjusted based on the most recent local unemployment figures.  In regions where unemployment has gone up, the number of hours required to qualify has been reduced and the length of benefits increased.

The Government is providing five extra weeks of EI benefits to support Canadians who lose their jobs.  This new measure, with an estimated cost of $1.15 billion, came into effect on March 1st and will be in place until September 11, 2010.  As of July 26, more than 240,000 Canadians had already received additional benefits through this measure.

Between April and July, 756 additional claims processing staff and an additional 280 agents answering calls have been hired and trained to help even more Canadians receive their EI cheques as quickly and as efficiently as possible.  Even with the dramatic increase in EI claims, Canadians are receiving their first EI cheque within 24 days, on average.

As of July 18, almost 5,000 Canadian firms are currently participating in Work-Sharing agreements, benefiting more than 150,000 Canadians.  Work-Sharing, an element of the EI program, can assist businesses experiencing a temporary slowdown caused by factors beyond their control. 

It is designed to avoid layoffs by offering EI income benefits to qualifying workers willing to work a reduced work week while their employer recovers. Through Canada’s Economic Action Plan, the Government extended Work-Sharing agreements by 14 weeks to a maximum of 52 weeks, and increased access to the program through greater flexibility in the qualifying criteria for the next two years, at an estimated cost of $200 million.

“In order to help laid-off workers improve their skills so that they will be able to find new jobs, and in some cases, better jobs, we have put into place sound measures in Canada’s Economic Action Plan,” added Menzies.

These measures include:

• Career Transition Assistance, which  will support an estimated 40,000 long-tenured workers with many years of experience who require new skills to find a new job, and represents an estimated investment of $500 million over two years; and
• an additional investment of $1 billion over two years through existing agreements with provinces and territories to help 100,000 unemployed Canadians upgrade their skills, get on-the-job experience, find a job or become self-employed.

To save employees and employers money, the Government has frozen EI premium rates for 2010 at $1.73, the same rate as 2008 and 2009.  This provides a projected combined $10.5 billion stimulus for our economy over two years.

All of these improvements to the EI program are providing real results and helping Canadians get the support they need now to face these tough economic times, and the training they need to be ready for new opportunities when the global economy recovers.

The Government is providing an additional $500 million towards a two-year Strategic Training and Transition Fund to support the needs of individuals, whether or not they qualify for EI.  The Fund will be delivered by the provinces and territories and will support initiatives that help meet the different training needs of workers affected by the economic downturn.  It is expected to benefit 50,000 individuals.

To learn more about Canada’s Economic Action Plan, visit www.actionplan.gc.ca.