EI Monitoring and Assessment Report 2012Annex 6 — Key Studies Referenced in the Report.

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1. Employment Insurance Coverage Survey

Author(s): Statistics Canada

Objective(s): The Employment Insurance Coverage Survey (EICS) provides information on unemployed individuals, whether or not they are eligible for or apply for Employment Insurance (EI) benefits.

Key finding(s) referenced in the report:

  • In 2011, 78.4% of unemployed individuals who had been paying premiums and had a recent job separation that met EI program criteria were eligible to receive EI benefits.
  • Among the 1,344,700 unemployed individuals in 2011, 866,700 were covered by the EI program, as they had paid EI premiums in the previous 12 months before becoming unemployed. They represented 64.5% of all unemployed people.

Availability: Findings for the 2011 EICS are available on Statistics Canada's web site at http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/121105/dq121105b-eng.htm.

2. Potential EI Eligibility of Employed Canadians Using the 2010 Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID)

Author(s): Constantine Kapsalis and Pierre Tourigny, Data Probe Economic Consulting Inc.

Objective(s): Using the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID), the study estimates the proportion of employees who would have sufficient insurable hours to be eligible for EI benefits if they were to lose their job or quit with just cause at the end of the year. The report also provides the data used on potential access to special benefits among the employed population.

Key finding(s) referenced in the report:

  • Simulations indicated that 87.7% of individuals who were working as paid employees in December 2010 would have been eligible for EI regular benefits if they had lost their job at the end of that month.
  • The proportion of individuals with sufficient hours to claim EI benefits varied from 87.1% in British Columbia to 89.1% in the Atlantic provinces. Table 1 provides more detailed findings.

Availability: SLID data are available from Statistics Canada. See http://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb/p2SV.pl?Function=getSurvey&SDDS=3889&Item_Id=1370&lang=en.

3. Financial Impacts of Receiving Employment Insurance

Author(s): Constantine Kapsalis, Data Probe Economic Consulting Inc.

Objective(s): This study explores the financial impact of receiving EI benefits. The study probes the evolution of individual incomes before, during and after the receipt of EI benefits, as well as the influence of receiving EI on household consumption.

Key finding(s) referenced in the report:

  • The average EI beneficiary experienced a 38% drop in wages during a year with EI. The most important offsetting factor was EI; it replaced about 38% of lost wages. The second most important factor was investment income; it replaced about 9% of lost wages. Other income sources played a lesser role.
  • Lower income families received a higher return of their contributions than did higher income families. In fact, families with after-tax income below the median received 34% of total benefits and paid 18% of all premiums in 2007. The study also found that EI halved the incidence of low income among beneficiaries (from 14% to 7%) during that period.

Availability: This report is available upon request.

4. The Redistributional Impact of Employment Insurance 2007-2009

Author(s): Ross Finnie, Queen's University School of Policy Studies; and Ian Irvine, Concordia University for HRSDC, Evaluation Directorate

Objective(s): The objective of this study is to investigate the degree to which Canada's Employment Insurance (EI) program has redistributed purchasing power during the recent economic recession. Precisely, this period of investigation runs from 2007 to 2009, although results from the 2002 to 2006 period are also presented in order to place the recession period in a longer-term context.

Key finding(s) referenced in the report:

  • EI redistributes income substantially when the unit of analysis is individual earnings. The lower deciles of the distribution benefit both on the contributions and benefits sides.
  • The quantitative redistributional impact of EI in 2009 appears to be approximately twice the impact of 2007.
  • In 2007 and 2008, Quebec was the largest recipient of benefits (even without accounting for family benefits). However, 2009 saw a reversal of this pattern: Quebec's benefits increased by 20%, whereas Ontario's benefits increased by almost 50%, a reflection of how much harder the recession hit the employment sector in Ontario than in Quebec.

Availability: This report is available upon request.

5. EI Premium Refund: Trend Analysis 1997 to 2010

Author: HRSDC, Evaluation Directorate

Objective: Individuals who have less than $2,000 of insured earnings in a tax year are eligible for a refund of their EI premiums. The threshold for the refund was set at $2,000 in 1997 has not changed since. This paper considers how the refund would have evolved had the threshold been indexed to the minimum wage in Canada.

Key finding(s) referenced in the report:

  • Over time, the number of people who receive the premium refund has fallen from 5.6% of Canadians who filed taxes in 1997 to 3.8% in 2010. The mean value of the refund has also fallen, from $29 in 1997 to $16.40 in 2010. This decrease is primarily due to the steady reduction in the EI premium rate since 1997.
  • In 2010, the estimated number of people who would have received the premium refund under an indexed threshold is approximately one million people, compared to 610 thousand who actually did receive it. The total dollar amount of the refund would have increased to a high of $27 to $29 million in 2009, about 2.5 times the amount that was actually paid.

Availability: This report is available upon request.

6. Extended Duration of Employment Insurance Regular Benefits: Second Evaluation Study Update

Author(s): HRSDC, Evaluation Directorate

Objective(s): The extended duration of EI regular benefits (EDB) initiative increased EI entitlements for regular claims by five weeks. It was introduced as part of a stimulus package in Budget 2009, along with several other relief measures. This study estimates the effect of EDB on benefit use and exhaustion of entitlements.

Key finding(s) referenced in the report:

  • Mean weeks of EI benefits received rose with the entitlement increase.
  • The proportion of claimants using additional EDB weeks and their EI exhaustion rates declined with the entitlement increase.
  • From March 9, 2008 until April 4, 2010, the joint effect of the extra EDB weeks used and the increase in entitlement, controlling for other factors, led to an average increase in benefit use of 2.1 weeks.
  • Controlling for the same factors, the average probability of claimants exhausting their EI entitlement decreased by 4.8 percentage points due to the EDB initiative. Specifically, in EI economic regions previously eligible for the two preceding EI pilot projects that extended regular benefit weeks, the average probability of exhausting benefits was 4.4 percentage points lower due to EDB. In non-pilot regions, it was 5.0 percentage points lower.

Availability: This report is available upon request.

7. Analysis of the Use of the Extension of Employment Insurance Regular Benefits for Long-Tenured Workers

Author(s): HRSDC, Evaluation Directorate

Objective(s): This report provides a demographic profile of long-tenured workers (LTWs) and examines how benefits received and entitlement varied for LTWs and non-LTWs across demographic and labour market characteristics.

Key finding(s) referenced in the report:

  • The likelihood that LTWs would use the additional weeks available to them under this temporary measure was positively related to the number of additional weeks available to them.
  • Approximately 17.1% of LTWs exhausted their benefits. This was about half the rate for non-LTWs, who exhausted their benefits 29.6% of the time. For LTWs, exhaustion rates ranged from a high of 33.3% for those with 26 to 30 weeks of entitlement to a low of 11.4% for those with 66 to 70 weeks of entitlement.

Availability: This report is available upon request.

8. EI and Non-Standard Workers: Part-Time, Short-Term and Seasonal Workers

Author(s): HRSDC, Evaluation Directorate

Objective(s): This study examines the EI eligibility rate at the time of a job separation and regular benefits use by employment type for individuals unemployed due to a work shortage. It contrasts EI characteristics for full-time permanent job separators to separators who were full-time non-permanent, part-time permanent, part-time non-permanent, or seasonal for the years 2005 to 2010.

Key finding(s) referenced in the report:

  • Full-time permanent job separators have an 85.7% eligibility rate while eligibility rates for job separators from other employment types varied between 64% and 76%.
  • EI eligibility patterns by employment type were very similar to those for insured hours of work.
  • Among separators eligible for EI, 61% used regular EI benefits overall. Full-time permanent job separators had a 68% use rate. Eligible separators from other employment times had use rates lower than 60%.
  • Holding other factors constant, the likelihoods of benefit use by eligible separators were similar for separators from permanent and seasonal jobs. Compared to eligible full-time permanent job separators, eligible non-permanent separators had an 8 to 11 percentage point lower benefit use rate.

Availability: This report is available upon request.

9. Employment Insurance (EI) and Key Socio-Economic Groups

Author(s): HRSDC, Evaluation Directorate

Objective(s): This papers looks at three indicators of EI access (EI coverage, EI eligibility and EI application) for four key socio-economic groups (women, youth, immigrants and single parents) for the years 2009 and 2010. The objective is to assess the gaps in EI access for the key socio-economic groups and identify the sources of these gaps.

Key finding(s) referenced in the report:

  • The EI coverage rate was found to be statistically and significantly lower for women compared to men (63.5% vs. 70.2%), youth (15-24 years) compared to older individuals (59.4% vs. 70.5%), immigrants compared to non-immigrants (56.2% vs. 71.2%), and single parents compared to individuals in other family situations (56.8% vs. 68.7%).
    • The larger share of claimants in the socio-economic groups who had not worked in the last year or who had never worked mainly explained these coverage gaps.
  • The EI eligibility rate was found to be statistically and significantly lower for women compared to men (65.8% vs.72.3%), youth compared to older individuals (29.2% vs. 82.2%) and single parents compared to individuals in other family types (48.3% vs. 71.7%).
    • The higher proportion of women who quit their job without a cause acceptable to the EI program is one of the reasons why their EI eligibility rate is lower. The larger share of youth and single parents who quit their job to go to school, and who did not have enough insured hours mainly explained their lower EI eligibility rate.
  • The EI application rate was statistically and significantly lower for youth compared to older claimants (84.5% vs. 93.4%).

Availability: This report is available upon request.

10. ROE-Based Measures of EI Eligibility

Author(s): HRSDC, Evaluation Directorate

Objective(s): The study examines the Record of Employment (ROE) database to determine the ability of workers to meet the required number of insurable hours of employment under EI eligibility criteria. The report analyzes eligibility across unemployment rates, provinces, industries and economic regions.

Key finding(s) referenced in the report:

  • Between 1990 and 2011, the overall percentage of ROEs meeting the VER generally decreased along with the unemployment rate.
  • During this period, the percentage of ROEs that met the Variable Entrance Requirement (VER) varied significantly across economic regions. In general, in larger cities with lower unemployment rates, lower proportions of ROEs met the VER.
  • In regions of high unemployment (13% or higher), the proportion of job separations that occurred after the individuals had accumulated enough insurable hours to meet the VER tended to be larger than that in regions of low unemployment (6% or lower).
  • In recent years, the proportion of job separations that occurred in regions with unemployment rates of 7% or lower decreased significantly. This proportion was 73.1% in 2007 and decreased to 20.8% in 2010 and was 33.7% in 2011.
  • In 2011, 73.5% of individuals across Canada who were separated from their job had accumulated enough insurable hours to meet the VER.

Availability: This report is available upon request.

11. Employment Insurance and the Financial Hardship of Unemployment

Author(s): Constantine Kapsalis, Data Probe Economic Consulting Inc.

Objective(s): This study explores various indicators of the financial hardship of unemployment and the mitigating impact of EI.

Key finding(s) referenced in the report:

  • From 2004 to 2009, 25% of unemployed individuals reported that their household income was insufficient to cover all or most of their regular spending. The percentage was lowest for EI beneficiaries (23%) and highest for EI exhaustees (32%). The rate may have been higher among exhaustees and non-beneficiaries because they were not receiving EI.

Availability: This report is available upon request.

12. Estimates of the Employment Insurance Replacement Rate

Author(s): Constantine Kapsalis, Data Probe Economic Consulting Inc.

Objective(s): This study examines the extent to which EI regular benefits replace the weekly earnings of beneficiaries. In particular, the study estimates the share of regular beneficiaries who receive the maximum 55% replacement rate, as well as the average replacement rate across all regular beneficiaries.

Key finding(s) referenced in the report:

  • According to the 2010 EICS, 62% of regular beneficiaries received the maximum replacement rate in 2010. According to the 2009 SLID, the same share of regular beneficiaries (62%) received the maximum replacement rate in 2009.
  • Over a 10-year period, the share of beneficiaries receiving the maximum 55% replacement rate has declined. Based on time trend regression analysis, both surveys show that the share has been declining at an annual rate of 1.5 percentage points.
  • One possible explanation for the declining trend in the above share is that wages in current dollars are increasing faster than the maximum insurable earnings (MIE). This was clearly the case in 2000–2006, during which the MIE was fixed at $39,000. Another possible reason is that the wage gap between unemployed beneficiaries and the average worker has been closing.
  • Differences in the replacement rate between different demographic groups tend to be small. Moreover, the minor differences that are observed are almost entirely due to the correlation of individual characteristics with the level of weekly wages.

Availability: This report is available upon request.

13. An Evaluation of the EI Pilot Project on Small Weeks, 1998-2001

Author(s): HRSDC, Evaluation Directorate

Objective(s): This study investigates the effectiveness of the pilot project in encouraging program participants to accept "Small Weeks" of work during the rate calculation period (the 26 weeks preceding the last day of employment); determines the project's impact on program participants' earnings and weeks of work; and assesses the project's impacts on male and female EI benefits claimants separately.

Key finding(s) referenced in the report:

  • Many EI claimants in the 31 Small Weeks regions benefited from the project.
  • The provision increased total duration of work in the 26 weeks prior to job separation and increased the total average income of male and female participants.

Availability: This report is available upon request.

14. EI Payments and the GIS System

Author(s): HRSDC, Evaluation Directorate

Objective(s): This paper assesses the impact of the Guaranteed Income Support (GIS) clawback provisions on overall individual income for EI claimants. It analyzes the interaction between the EI program and the GIS system, as well as how potential changes to Statistics Canada's Social Policy Simulation Database and Model (SPSD/M) would affect these two programs.

Key finding(s) referenced in the report:

  • Older workers (aged 55 and older) are generally net beneficiaries of EI regular benefits.
  • Even though workers aged 65 and older contribute more to the program than they receive in benefits, their premiums amount to only about 8% of what older workers in total contribute.
  • Workers between the ages of 55 and 64, who represent the vast majority of older workers, more than offset this by being net beneficiaries.

Availability: This report is available upon request.

15. An Evaluation Overview of Seasonal Employment: Update

Author(s): HRSDC, Evaluation Directorate

Objective(s): This study provides an overview of seasonal employment in Canada and draws conclusions on the subject of seasonal work.

Key finding(s) referenced in the report:

  • Based on aggregate Labour Force Survey (LFS) data, it has been estimated that seasonal employment accounts for 2.8% of total employment.
  • The Canadian Out of Employment Panel (COEP) survey estimated seasonal workers made up 15.8 percent of job separations over the 2004 to 2007 period.
  • Seasonal workers are
    • more likely than other workers to be male, to have a lower level of education and to have fewer family dependants;
    • more prominent in eastern provinces and primary industries;
    • less likely to be unionized, to have a medical plan or to have a pension plan; and
    • more likely to expect to return to a previous employer.

Availability: This report is available upon request.

16. A Profile of Seasonal Workers in 2011: A Complement to a Profile of Temporary Workers

Author(s): HRSDC, Economic Policy Directorate

Objective(s): This study provides a profile of seasonal workers. It explores their demographics and work characteristics, and their regional and industry distribution using data from the 2011 Labour Force Survey (LFS).

Key finding(s) referenced in the report:

  • Between 1997 and 2011, the number of seasonal workers grew steadily and more rapidly than total employment. On average, the number of seasonal workers grew by 43.3%, compared to 26.2% for all employed individuals.
  • Seasonal workers are aging more rapidly than all Canadian workers.
  • Seasonal workers are more likely to be employed in the construction and tourism sectors, with slight variations depending on the season.
  • Seasonal workers are more frequently found in firms with less than 20 employees.
  • Seasonal workers have lower earnings and income than all salaried workers.

Availability: This report is available upon request.

17. Interprovincial Mobility and Earnings

Author(s): André Bernard, Ross Finnie and Benoît St-Jean, Statistics Canada

Objective(s): This study looks at interprovincial migration longitudinally to identify factors that affect the probability that someone will move and to quantify the labour market gains associated with migration. It also compares the situations of migrants and non-migrants.

Key finding(s) referenced in the report:

  • Factors such as personal and labour market characteristics, as well as moving costs, play a key role in mobility decisions.

Availability: This study can be found on Statistics Canada's web site at http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/75-001-x/2008110/pdf/10711-eng.pdf.

18. The Impact of EI Regional Boundary Revisions on Mobility in New Brunswick: Evidence from the Longitudinal Administrative Databank

Author(s): HRSDC, Evaluation Directorate

Objective(s): This report investigates whether the change in the generosity of EI that occurred in the eastern region of New Brunswick with the revision of the EI regional boundary in 2000 affected the probability of moving out of that region.

Key finding(s) referenced in the report:

  • The impact of the boundary revisions on the decision to move out of the eastern region was not statistically significant, which confirms that EI generosity does not seem to affect mobility decisions.

Availability: This report is available upon request.

19. Regional Out-Migration and Commuting Patterns of Employment Insurance (EI) Claimants

Author(s): HRSDC, Evaluation Directorate

Objective(s): This paper compares the mobility and commuting behaviour of EI claimants living in high and low unemployment regions. The objective is to determine whether EI claimants residing in high unemployment regions were less mobile than those living in low unemployment regions and whether the mobility gap could be attributed to generosity of EI benefits.

Key finding(s) referenced in the report:

  • The study suggested that EI does not impede mobility:
    • Between 2007 and 2011, about 24% of EI claimants were commuters (i.e. their home address and employer's address were located in two different economic regions) and 7% were movers (i.e. they changed their home economic region between claims).
    • Claimants residing in high unemployment regions (unemployment rate over 12%) were less likely to move (by about 2 percentage points) and more likely to commute (by about 4 percentage points) than claimants residing in lower unemployment regions.
    • The lower likelihood of moving out of high unemployment regions could not be attributed to the longer EI entitlement provided in these regions. And only a small part of the commuting gap (about 1 percentage point) was attributed to the EI entitlement.

Availability: This report is available upon request.

20. The Commuting and Mobility Patterns of Employment Insurance (EI) Recipients and Non-Recipients

Author(s): HRSDC, Evaluation Directorate

Objective(s): This report investigates whether EI benefits can foster mobility by helping to finance mobility and commuting costs. It also examines the alternative hypothesis—that, by providing a safety net, EI benefits can lower the pressure to move or commute to areas where better job opportunities are available. The objective of this paper was to compare mobility and commuting patterns of EI recipients and non-recipients to shed light on these unresolved questions.

Key finding(s) referenced in the report:

  • The study suggested that EI does not discourage workers from being mobile:
    • EI recipients were found to be more likely than non-EI recipients to commute 30 kilometres or more to go to work.
    • EI recipients were more likely to work outside their census subdivision of residence.
    • Also, following a job loss, EI recipients were more likely than non-EI recipients to move more than 100 kilometres away.

Availability: This report is available upon request.

21. Policy-Induced Internal Migration: An Empirical Investigation of the Canadian Case

Author(s): Kathleen M. Day, University of Ottawa, and Stanley L. Winer, Carleton University

Objective(s): This study investigates the influence of public policy on interprovincial migration in Canada.

Key finding(s) referenced in the report:

  • The prime determinants of interprovincial migration were differences in earnings, employment prospects and moving costs.
  • EI is not a barrier to mobility, as eliminating regional EI extended benefits and regional EI differences in qualifying requirements would increase the volume of migration by less than 1%.

Availability: This paper can be found through CESifo at http://www.ifo.de/portal/pls/portal/docs/1/1188434.PDF.

22. 2013 Actuarial Report on the Reduction in Employment Insurance Premiums for Employers with Wage-Loss Plans

Author(s): Canada Employment Insurance Financing Board (CEIFB)

Objective(s): This report presents the details of the methodology and calculations that support the rates of premium reduction that will apply to employers with registered wage-loss replacement plans in 2013.

Key finding(s) referenced in the report:

  • Employers who participated in the EI Premium Reduction Program received a total of $882 million in EI premium reductions in 2011.

Availability: This report is available upon request.

23. Balancing Paid Work and Caregiving Responsibilities: A Closer Look at Family Caregivers in Canada

Author(s): Linda Duxbury, Chris Higgins and Bonnie Schroeder, Canadian Policy Research Networks

Objective(s): This report seeks to increase understanding of what it means to be an employed caregiver in Canada today. It also identifies the kinds of support key stakeholders in this relationship—the dependant, the family, organizations and governments—could offer to help the employed caregiver to perform this role.

Key finding(s) referenced in the report:

  • One out of four employed Canadians had caregiving responsibilities at the time of the study (that is, they had dual demands at home and at work).
    • Just over one in four (27.8%) of this group of employed Canadians cared for elderly dependants.
    • Twice as many had childcare responsibilities (54.2%).
    • One in five (16.8%) provided both childcare and eldercare.

Availability: The report is available on the Canadian Policy Research Networks web site at http://www.cprn.org/doc.cfm?doc=1997&l=en.

24. Compassionate Care Benefits

Author(s): HRSDC, Evaluation Directorate

Objective(s): The report provides an overview of compassionate care benefits (CCB). It also provides a socio-economic profile of CCB applicants and claimants and specific claim characteristics. Data are updated from previous reports. The report does not cover the use of compassionate care benefits by self-employed individuals.

Key finding(s) referenced in the report:

  • Since the extension of family definition in 2006, the overall CCB acceptance rate has been 63.4%.
  • The main reasons for CCB applicants not qualifying for benefits remain unchanged: the family member is not at significant risk of death, the patient dies before the benefit is paid or the claimant does not provide a medical certificate.
  • The study also finds that CCB applicants caring for their spouse, their father or their mother are more likely to have their claims approved than those caring for a child, mainly because it is less likely that the applicant is able to prove that their child is at significant risk of death.
  • The mortality rate of care recipients is the main factor affecting how much of the six-week CCB period claimants use. If the care recipient passes away while the claimant is receiving CCB, the claimant does not receive the full six weeks.

Availability: This report is available upon request.

25. Usage of the Work-Sharing Program: 1990/91 to 2011/12

Author(s): HRSDC, Evaluation Directorate

Objective(s): This report examines the usage of the Work-Sharing program from 1990/91 to 2011/12. Specifically, it examines the extent to which the Work-Sharing program is used, expenditures on Work-Sharing benefits, and the characteristics and experiences of Work-Sharing participants.

Key finding(s) referenced in the report:

  • Work-Sharing usage and expenditures are counter-cyclical.
  • By using data on the annual number of Work-Sharing claimants and the average work reduction due to Work-Sharing agreements, it was estimated that the number of layoffs averted in 2011/12 due to the Work-Sharing program was around 6,600 down from 35,000 in 2009/10.

Availability: This report is available upon request.

26. 2013 Employment Insurance Premium Rate Report of the Canadian Employment Insurance Financing Board of Directors

Author(s): Canadian Employment Insurance Financing Board

Objective(s): This report presents the premium rates for 2013 and the break-even rate for the EI Operating Account.

Key finding(s) referenced in the report:

  • Employee premiums increased in 2012 to $1.83 per $100 of insurable earnings, from $1.78 in 2011 and $1.73 in both 2009 and 2010.
  • Accordingly, employer premiums increased in 2012 to $2.56 per $100 of insurable earnings, increasing from $2.49 in 2011.
  • The MIE increased to 45,900 in 2012 from $44,200 in 2011, $43,200 in 2010 and $42,300 in 2009.

Availability: This report can be found on the Canada Employment Insurance Financing Board's web site at http://www.ceifb-ofaec.ca/en/PDF_Reports/Rate%20Setting/Premium%20Rate_Report_2013_Final.pdf.

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