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Correcting Course: Employment Insurance Needs a Redesign to Counter Recessions and Achieve Equity

Tuesday, October 11th, 2022

As a primary pillar of Canada’s social safety net, Employment Insurance (EI)… has also gone off track from its original main goal: to provide insurance against unpredictable job losses… The authors make three main policy recommendations: (i) Implement uniform or more universal entrance requirements. (ii) Sharply reduce the number of EI regions. (iii) Improve the responsiveness of the benefit duration formula to labour market downturns and recoveries.

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EI: An inequitable system that distorts the labour market

Friday, June 1st, 2012

May. 30, 2012
One potential – and likely intended – impact of the proposed changes is to signal to younger, more geographically mobile workers who are contemplating careers in seasonal work that their future opportunities are diminished, and that it would be advisable to take steps leading to full-year employment… There are at least two alternative reforms that economists tend to favour. One possibility is the creation of a separate regime that would be designed especially for seasonal workers… A second possibility would be to implement an experience rating that would apply to both the firm… and the worker.

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Set national standards for EI

Tuesday, November 8th, 2011

Nov. 8, 2011
… losing a job can cause laid-off workers similar hardship regardless of where they live… the bulk of the Canadian labour market, through its EI contributions, redistributes income toward seasonal workers and industries. Variable entrance requirements are the opaque screen through which this redistribution takes place. As a consequence, the EI program leads to under-coverage for some workers in certain areas of the country, weakening EI’s effectiveness as a social safety net.

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