EI Monitoring and Assessment Report 2012 Introduction

Monitoring and assessing the Employment Insurance (EI) program helps provide a clear understanding of its impact on the Canadian economy and its effectiveness in addressing the needs of Canadian workers, their families and their employers.

1. The Employment Insurance Program

The EI program provides temporary financial assistance to workers who have lost their job through no fault of their own while they look for work or upgrade their skills, and helps unemployed people across the country find employment. The EI program also provides assistance to workers who are sick, pregnant, or caring for a newborn or adopted child, as well as to those caring for a family member who is gravely ill with a significant risk of death.

The Unemployment Insurance program was first implemented in 1940, with the last major reform occurring in 1996. At that time, the name of the program was changed from “Unemployment Insurance” to “Employment Insurance,” to reflect the program’s primary objective of promoting employment in the labour force, and to better emphasize that individuals’ access to the program is linked to significant work attachment.

2. The Canada Employment Insurance Commission

The Canada Employment Insurance Commission (CEIC) has the legislated mandate to annually monitor and assess the EI program. The Commission must provide the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development with its annual report no later than March 31. The Minister then tables the report in Parliament.

The CEIC operates at arm's length from the Government of Canada and plays a key role in managing the EI program. In addition to producing this report, the CEIC is responsible for supporting the EI appeal system, making regulations with the approval of the Governor-in-Council, and reviewing—as well as approving—policies related to EI program administration and delivery. The Commission has four members, representing the interests of government, workers and employers. The Commissioner for Workers and the Commissioner for Employers are appointed by the Governor-in-Council for terms of up to five years. They are mandated to represent and reflect the views of their respective constituencies. The Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson are, respectively, the Deputy Minister and Senior Associate Deputy Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC), and can be said to represent the interests of government. With this report, the CEIC fulfills the above mandate by analyzing to what extent the current program meets the objectives set out in the Employment Insurance Act.

3. Legislated Mandate

Section 3 of the Employment Insurance Act gives the CEIC the legislated mandate to produce the EI Monitoring and Assessment (M&A) Report annually.

“3. (1) The Commission shall monitor and assess the impact and effectiveness, for individuals, communities and the economy, of the benefits and other assistance provided under this Act, including:

• (a) how the benefits and assistance are utilized by employees and employers, and
• (b) the effect of the benefits and assistance on the obligation of claimants to be available for and to seek employment and on the efforts of employers to maintain a stable workforce.

(2) The Commission shall report to the Minister on its assessment annually no later than March 31 following the end of a year. The Commission shall make any additional reports at any other times, as the Minister may request.”

4. The Report

The M&A Report is produced under the direction and guidance of the CEIC. Officials with HRSDC and Service Canada support the CEIC in preparing the report. The report relies on multiple sources of information to provide a comprehensive analysis of the EI program, including administrative data, Statistics Canada survey data and peer-reviewed evaluation studies, as well as internal and external reports. As such, this report provides valuable information and evidence with respect to the EI program and the labour market.

This year’s report focuses on the responsiveness of the EI program in a period of moderate economic growth. The first chapter of this report discusses the state of the Canadian labour market in 2011/12. The second chapter analyzes the usage, impact and effectiveness of EI income benefits provided under Part I of the Employment Insurance Act for the same period. The third chapter discusses the support provided to unemployed workers through active re-employment measures, under Part II of the Employment Insurance Act, known as Employment Benefits and Support Measures. The fourth and final chapter presents information on EI program administration and service delivery.

For a detailed qualitative overview of EI, please see Chapter 1 of the 2011 EI M&A Report: www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/programs/ei/ei-list/reports/monitoring2012/chapter1.html.