In 1977, the federal government introduced variable eligibility criteria, which meant that the duration of time that one needed to work to qualify for EI and the duration of the benefits depended on the unemployment rate in the region of residence. [...] Most of the drop during the 1990s can be attributed to the changes in program eligibility criteria that restricted access to benefits to those with a valid job separation.3 However, 40 percent of the decline was due to an increase in the share of unemployed individuals who had not contributed to EI in the previous 12 months, because they were either long-term unemployed or self-employed, had dropp. [...] Some members of the work- ing group argued that several of the changes made in the 1990s were understand- able, given the economic and fiscal context of the time, but others felt that they went too far and made the system too restrictive for the realities of today’s workforce. [...] She recom- mended allowing the duration of benefits to fluctuate with the level of unemployment in an EI region as the program currently does; modifying the grid used to calculate the duration of benefits based on Statistics Canada’s definition of full-time work, namely a 30-hour workweek rather than 35 hours; and increasing the minimum duration from 14 to 18 weeks. [...] The research team at IRPP reproduced the EI premium rate-setting formula to estimate the potential costs of some of the proposals put forward by the working group and how these would impact the premiums that workers and employers pay.
- Pages
- 30
- Published in
- Canada
