Highlights

Official title: Employment Insurance Monitoring and Assessment Report for the fiscal year beginning April 1, 2021 and ending March 31, 2022: Highlights

The Employment Insurance Monitoring and Assessment Report presents the analysis of the impact and effectiveness of the benefits and other assistance provided under the Employment Insurance Act. The reporting period is the fiscal year (FY) starting on April 1, 2021 and ending on March 31, 2022 (referred to as FY2122). The highlights below relate to this period or reflect changes between FY2021 and FY2122.

Canada's economy had largely recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic throughout FY2122.

• Subsequent waves of COVID-19 infections brought some continued volatility to Canada's economy, but by the end of the second quarter of FY2122, it had largely recovered the output losses due to the pandemic. In March 2022, real GDP was 3.2% higher than pre-pandemic levels
• In FY2122, the Canadian labour market also recovered its employment losses experienced during the first months of the pandemic. In March 2022, employment was 2.3% higher than in February 2020, and resumed its pre-pandemic level across all age groups and both genders
• However, some sectors did not see employment fully recover in FY2122 to pre-pandemic levels, notably because they were more affected by COVID-19 related public health measures, such as closure of non-essential businesses, inability to telework, or supply chain interruptions
• The national unemployment rate dropped from 10.2% in FY2021 to 6.8% in FY2122. In March 2022, the unemployment rate stood at 5.3%, registering a historical low level since January 1976.
• Both job vacancies and job vacancy rates rose to record levels in Canada in FY2122, indicating tighter labour market conditions compared to the previous fiscal year
• As part of the Government's economic response to COVID-19, the 2022 EI premium rate remained frozen at the 2020 premium rate level, similar to EI premium rate freeze in 2021. In 2022, the EI premium rate for employees remained set at $1.58 per $100 of insurable earnings (2020 level). Employers contribute EI premiums at 1.4 times the rate of employees

During FY2122, two sets of EI temporary measures were in place to facilitate access and ensure the EI program remained responsive to the needs of eligible workers.

• The first set of EI temporary measures was put in place as part of the Government's economic response to COVID-19 for the period between September 27, 2020 and September 25, 2021, facilitating access to EI benefits with a minimum of 120 hours of insurable employment to be eligible for EI benefits, providing up to 50 weeks of regular benefits and a minimum benefit rate of $500 per week
• The second set of EI temporary measures was put in place as the economy recovered from COVID-19 for the period between September 26, 2021 and September 24, 2022, facilitating access to EI benefits with a minimum of 420 hours of insurable employment, a minimum benefit rate of $300 per week for a certain period, and simplified treatment of reasons for separation and monies on separation

The number of new EI regular claims established in FY2122 decreased, while the total amount paid in EI regular benefits increased over the previous year.

• In FY2122, 1.46 million new EI regular claims were established in Canada. This is lower than the 2.47 million regular claims established during the second half of FY2021 when EI regular benefits were available
• The total amount paid in EI regular benefits increased to $28.6 billion in FY2122, compared to $24.9 billion in FY2021 and $11.1 billion in FY1920. This was mainly due to the higher number of EI regular beneficiaries in FY2122, notably those who established their claim in FY2021 and continued to receive benefits in FY2122, as well as the EI temporary measures
• Under the current seasonal measure effective in 13 EI economic regions, a total of 108,300 claims by eligible seasonal claimants received additional weeks of EI regular benefits since the measure started in August 2018. On average, each of these claims received an additional $1,710 and 4.2 weeks of EI regular benefits. By the end of FY2122, a total of $185.2 million in additional benefits had been paid to these claimants. The support measure for seasonal workers has been extended until October 28, 2023

The eligibility rates for EI regular benefits in FY2122 were relatively high.

• As the eligibility criteria to qualify for EI regular benefits changed through the EI temporary measures during the fiscal year, eligibility rates are reported for the first and second halves of FY2122. In addition, as the EI Coverage Survey did not fully adapt to the eligibility criteria changes, a different data source was used
• It was estimated that 94.6% and 89.1% of job separations had enough hours of insurable employment to qualify for EI regular benefits during the first and second half of FY2122, respectively
• These high eligibility rates can be explained by the temporary measures facilitating access to EI benefits

The number of Work-Sharing agreements and new claims established decreased compared to FY2021.

• As the economy started recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, Work-Sharing program participation decreased from 4,224 agreements started in FY2021 to less than 900 in FY2122. An estimate of 14,000 layoffs were averted during FY2122, which represented over 32,000 employees
• As a result, the number of EI claims from workers participating in a Work-Sharing agreement significantly decreased from 82,991 in FY2021 to 15,078 in FY2122 (-550%). The total amount paid also decreased to $88.8M (‑207%) compared to $183.5M in FY2021

The number of new claims and total amount paid increased in FY2122 for EI special benefits.

• The number of new claims established for EI special benefits was 704,620 in FY2122, compared to 671,260 in FY2021. The total amount paid in EI special benefits rose to $7.7 billion in FY2122, from $6.7 billion in FY2021
• Claims for EI sickness benefits continued to represent almost two-thirds of EI special benefit claims in FY2122
• The proportion of EI parental claims established by men continued to increase and reached 28.3% in FY2122 compared to 16.8% in FY1819.  This increase can by explained, in part, by the additional weeks of benefits available to parents who share parental benefits since March 2019

In FY2122, Labour Market Development Agreements (LMDAs) were an important support for workers and employers in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the changes to the labour force that followed.

• Approximately 714,000 participants received Employment Benefits or Support Measures (EBSMs). Approximately 667,000 participants were served by provinces and territories under the LMDAs, and approximately 47,000 participants by Indigenous organizations, through the Indigenous Skills and Employment Training (ISET) Program
• LMDAs supported approximately 164,000 active EI claimants while they were out of work, helping them to be ready with the skills needed to participate in the economic recovery
• Approximately 191,000 Canadians served through LMDAs either maintained or returned to employment in the six months after receiving support funded through EI Part II
• Approximately $2.7 billion was invested to help those most affected, to enhance the capacity of service delivery organizations, and to improve labour market information. Of this amount, approximately $2.2 billion of the total was transferred to provinces and territories under LMDAs to respond to regional needs and opportunities
• Provinces and territories continued to deliver LMDA-funded supports through the evolving circumstances of the pandemic and public health measures put into effect by individual provinces and territories such as physical distancing measures and temporary changes to occupancy limits in public spaces

Building on last year's accomplishments, in FY2122 Service Canada continued to improve and enhance its services for EI clients:

• Client service and accessibility
  • The Outreach Support Centre, launched during the pandemic as a telephone complement to the Community Outreach and Liaison Service when in-person activities were temporarily suspended, will remain a permanent service delivery option for clients facing barriers to service.
  • Additional modifications were made to the in-person sites to improve accessibility for persons with disabilities
  • A specialized EI team was launched to prioritize requests related to overpayments and other issues pertaining to the EI emergency pandemic benefits
• Call Centre improvements
  • New online messaging advised clients of wait times and of specific periods of high call volume for the EI call centre
  • EI call centre agents were reallocated to offline processing work during periods of lower call volumes, increasing capacity to address inventory volumes
  • Maintaining FY2021's increased staffing levels and continuing to leverage the updated telephone platform meant that EI call centre agents were able to answer 1.6 million more calls in FY2122, the most calls answered since the call centre was networked nationally
• Technological solutions
  • Artificial Intelligence supported the automation of 34.48% of records of employment and reduced the need for manual intervention
  • Enhancements to the document upload function means that EI claimants can now upload medical and other supporting documents directly to their EI files using AppliWeb or My Service Canada Account
  • Multi-factor authentication is now mandatory for all My Service Canada Account users, protecting their personal information and preventing unauthorized access to the system