Annex 6: Key studies referenced in the report

Author(s), year

ESDC: Labour Market Information Directorate, 2025

Objective(s)

The objective of this study is to examine how the EI program mitigates the impact of unemployment on jobless individuals and identifies key factors driving employment expectations among unemployed individuals, including both Employment Insurance (EI) benefits recipients and non-recipients. The study uses Employment Insurance Coverage Survey (EICS) data from 2000 to 2019.

Key finding(s)

• During this period, approximately 7.3 million unemployed individuals received EI benefits (recipients) and 14.6 million did not (non-recipients). Among unemployed recipients, 70% had positive employment expectations compared to 60% of unemployed non-recipients
• Several key factors including their demographic characteristics, previous employment, and job search activities influence employment expectations for both groups. Unemployed individuals had higher expectation of finding a job if, for example, they were men, younger, single-earner family members, Canadian-born, Quebec residents, job seekers who directly contacted employers, and less attached to their previous employer
• Additionally, unemployed recipients receiving a greater amount of EI benefits or receiving EI benefits for a shorter duration (6 months or less) were more optimistic about finding a job. Job expectation also closely follows labor market trends. Declines in unemployment were associated with increasing optimism among unemployed individuals for finding a job
• A complementary analysis was conducted to examine the marginal effects of these factors on the employment expectations of unemployed individuals at the provincial and EI regional level. Post-secondary education and job search through networking increased job expectations in the province while trade certificate was a determining factor in EI regions

Availability

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Author(s), year

ESDC: Labour Market Information Directorate, 2025

Objective(s)

This goal of this study is to investigate how the employment of Temporary Residents (TRs) in Canada holding all permit types (employer-specific and open work permits, study permits with and without a work permit) affects labour market conditions, and the receipt of Employment Insurance (EI) benefits across different EI regions. The study uses data from the Employment Insurance Coverage Survey (EICS), the Canadian Employer-Employee Dynamics Database (CEEDD) and Labour Force Surveys (LFS) from 2014 to 2019.

Key finding(s)

• During this period, approximately 80.1% of TRs who filed taxes during this period were employed, with employment rates across EI regions varying from 65.5% in London to 95.0% in the Territories. Employed TRs holding employer-specific work permits had high chance of being employed, followed by those with holding open work permits and study permit holders
• A complementary analysis is carried out to examine the marginal effects of the employment of TRs on labour market conditions in EI regions. Employed TRs, specifically employer-specific work permit holders, were more likely to reside in EI regions with low unemployment rates (low-ranked EI regions), and low shares of the population of EI recipients of any type
• EI regions with the lowest proportion of EI benefits recipients also had the highest shares of employed TRs holding all permit types except for open work permit holders employed in the Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting; Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction sector who were more likely to reside in EI regions with higher shares of EI benefit recipients

Availability

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Author(s), year

ESDC: Employment Insurance Policy Directorate, 2024

Objective(s)

This study examines the impacts of the 2 different sets of EI temporary measures introduced in response to the COVID-19 pandemic on access to EI benefits and level of additional income support provided to workers, and estimates the additional cost generated by the EI temporary measures.

Key finding(s)

During the first set of EI temporary measures (claims established September 27, 2020 to September 25, 2021):

• 12.7% of regular claims and 9.6% of special benefit claims would not have been able to qualify without the temporary measures
• 64.6% of regular claims and 53.7% of special benefit claims had a higher weekly benefit rate than what they would have received without the temporary measures
• 45.4% of all regular claims used more weeks of regular benefits than what they would have been entitled to without the temporary measures; 22.5% of all regular claims exhausted the 50 weeks of regular benefits

During the second set of EI temporary measures (claims established September 26, 2021 to September 24, 2022):

• 13.3% of regular claims and 5.2% of special benefit claims would not have been able to qualify without the temporary measures
• 9.5% of regular claims and 9.0% of special benefit claims benefitted from the minimum $300 weekly benefit rate measure (claims established between September 26, 2021 and November 20, 2021)

The total estimated additional cost for the main temporary measures is $20.6B: $19.3B for the first set of measures and $1.3B for the second set of measures.

• The largest additional cost is associated with the minimum $500 weekly benefit rate measure with $9.9B for regular claims and $933M for special benefits claims. The maximum 50 weeks of regular benefits measure has an additional cost of $4.6B

Availability

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Author(s), year

ESDC: Employment Insurance Policy Directorate, 2025

Objective(s)

This study examines how the minimum of 420 hours of insurable employment and the simplified treatment of RFS measures improved access to EI benefits for workers in precarious employment, focusing on claims that would not have been established without these EI temporary measures.

Key finding(s)

Out of all the EI benefit claims established during the period under study (September 26, 2021 to September 24, 2022), 10.5% of EI regular claims and 7.0% of EI special claims would not have been established without the temporary measures.

• The minimum of 420 hours had the biggest impact since 6.5% of EI regular claims and 4.1% of EI special claims would not have been established without it
• The simplified treatment of RFS was needed to establish 3.6% of EI regular claims and 2.5% of EI special claims
• 0.4% of EI regular claims and 0.4% of EI special claims needed both measures to qualify
• An additional 7.1% of EI regular claims and 5.5% of EI special claims did not need the temporary measures to be established but benefited from the measures by having a higher entitlement (from an average of 23.0 weeks under original EI rules to 30.7 weeks with the temporary measures for EI regular claims) and/or a higher weekly benefit rate

The average weekly EI benefit rate for regular claims that would not have been established was:

• $323 for claims only needing the minimum of 420 hours
• $475 for claims only needing the simplified treatment of RFS
• $277 for claims needing both temporary measures

The average weekly EI benefit rate for regular claims that would have been established regardless but that still benefited from the temporary measures was:

• $530, an increase of $29 from the average weekly benefit rate of $501 under original EI rules

Availability

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Author(s), year

ESDC: Evaluation Directorate, 2024

Objective(s)

This study identifies the characteristics of Family Supplement (FS) recipients from 2007 to 2022 and informs the characteristics of potential new recipients who would have been eligible if the net family income thresholds were adjusted for inflation.

Key finding(s)

• The share of FS recipients has decreased from 6.0% in 2007 to 2.0% in 2022. Adjusting the maximum net family income threshold for inflation would increase the share of claimants by 2.2 percentage points (p.p.) on average per year over the study period (from 1.5 p.p. in 2007 to 2.9 p.p. in 2022)
• Potential new recipients would be more likely to be older, male, have fewer children, work in the manufacturing and construction industries and be less likely to be single
• The average weekly FS top-up has increased from $40 in 2007 to $43 in 2022. If FS was adjusted for inflation, the average weekly FS benefit would have increased to $46 in 2022. The average FS benefits would increase the most for women, recipients starting with sickness or maternity/parental benefits, recipients who were single, recipients under 30 years old, recipients in the Service industry, and recipients residing in the Atlantic provinces
• On average, only 51.8% of claimants with children under Low-Income Measures were eligible to receive the FS. This share decreased over the study period, from 61.0% in 2007 to 30.7% in 2021. If the threshold was adjusted for inflation, the share of claimants with children under the LIM eligible to the FS would increase to 61.8% in 2021

Availability

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Author(s), year

ESDC: Evaluation Directorate, 2021

Objective(s)

This study examines the characteristics of employers and employees who take part in the Supplemental Unemployment Benefit (SUB) Program and their utilization of Employment Insurance benefits.

Key finding(s)

• Between 2008 and 2017, the number of firms with an active registered SUB plan increased from 5,714 to 7,782─an annual average of around 6,800 active firms─which represents a little over 0.5% of all firms in Canada
• Registered SUB plans for illness, injury or quarantine account for around 63% of all plans while SUB plans for temporary stoppage of work, training or plans where there are a combination of top-up plans account for around 10%, 7% and 20% respectively
• Overall, EI claims which receive top-up payments through registered SUB plans account for around 3% of all EI claims or between 40,000 and 60,000 claims per year. However, the analysis found that only 13% of EI claims from firms with registered SUB plans received top-up payments
• Claimants who receive top-up payments for regular benefit claims are more likely to return to the same firm after a claim as compared to those who worked for non-SUB firms. A positive relationship is observed between job tenure and SUB claim whereby individuals tend to stay with an employer longer if they are part of a SUB firm

Availability

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Author(s), year

ESDC: Evaluation Directorate, 2025

Objective(s)

This study examines the relative number of contributors and beneficiaries from different streams of temporary foreign workers (TFWs) and assesses the net impact of TFWs on EI operating account over time.

Key finding(s)

• The annual number of TFWs hired via the TFW program ranged between 105,435 and 160,000. Almost all, alongside their employers, paid EI premiums
• TFWs are mostly men aged 26 to 35, located in the Western region and the Territories. High-Wage TFWs work mainly in construction, Low-Wage TFWs in accommodation and food services
• The net contribution of TFWs to the EI Operating account represents an average of $131 million annually. Low-Wage stream TFWs have the highest net contribution ($53 million)
• On average, 1.7% of TFWs who contributed to EI received EI benefits. This proportion was the highest among workers in the Low-Wage stream (2.7%)
• From every dollar of EI contribution paid (by the TFWs and their employer), Canadian workers receive an average of 80 cents in EI benefits, whereas TFWs receive an average of 9 cents

Availability

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Author(s), year

ESDC: Policy Research Directorate, 2012

Objective(s)

This study evaluates the stabilizing role of the EI program on employment and real gross domestic product (GDP) in Canada during the 2001-02 economic downturn and the 2008-09 financial crisis. The study simulates the impact of EI program on employment and real GDP during 2 periods of prolonged downturns (2001‑04) and (2008‑11) using 2 distinct macroeconomic models for the Canadian economy.

Key finding(s)

• During the 2001-04 downturn, the EI's stabilising effect resulted in average annual increase of 31,000 jobs and a 0.39% rise in real GDP
• During the 2008-11 recession, the impact was even larger, with 60,000 additional jobs and a 0.65% higher real GDP on average per year
• Therefore, the EI program played a more significant stabilizing role during the 2008-09 recession than in the 2001-02 slowdown

Availability

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Author(s), year

ESDC: Employment Insurance Policy Directorate, 2025

Objective(s)

This study aims to investigate the eligibility and utilization of EI regular benefits among those affected by recent natural disasters to assess the role of the EI program played during such events.

Key finding(s)

Individuals separated from their jobs during natural disasters are generally more likely to have sufficient hours of insurable employment for EI regular benefits compared to those separated during non-disaster periods. This could probably be explained by the fact that natural disasters tend to impact many individuals who have a stronger attachment to the labour market and who would likely have continued working if not for the disruptions caused by the disasters, which pushed up the average eligibility rate.

During disaster periods, there was an increase in EI usage reflected by more eligible individuals established EI claims. However, the extent to which claimants made use of EI program was lower which is reflected by lower proportion of entitlement weeks used. These patterns also indicate that natural disasters tend to impact many individuals with a stronger attachment to the labour market. In general, the study finds that the EI program has been responsive to natural disasters in providing temporary assistance to affected people. However, it suggests that when searching for standardized tools within the EI program to support affected individuals, the focus should not be solely on the severity of the disaster, but also on its actual impact on the local labour market such as the duration of the evacuation. In addition, even similar types of disasters occurring in the same EI region can lead to markedly different impacts. Case-by-case examinations might be needed for deeper understanding of EI roles during natural disasters.

Availability

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Author(s), year

ESDC: Evaluation Directorate, 2025

Objective(s)

This study investigates the degree to which long-standing employment patterns in regions that have seen a decline in their unemployment rate have adapted to higher EI entrance requirements and reduced duration of benefit entitlements.

Key finding(s)

• Descriptive analysis shows that the Atlantic provinces had the highest number of claimants in affected regions in 2022‑23, from September 25th, 2022 to August 26th, 2023 (49,740), as well as the highest proportion of claimants in affected regions (60.2%). For claimants in affected regions in 2022‑23 (in comparison to claimants in 2015-2017), the unemployment rate and number of entitlement weeks fell by an average of 4.1 percentage points and 5.4 weeks, respectively
• Descriptive analysis on insurable hours shows that in 2022‑23 there was a higher proportion of ROEs that were close to a claim that had a high number of combined insurable hours. This result indicates that, in affected regions, individuals needed more hours from their job(s) in order to qualify for EI benefits
• Descriptive analysis on multiple jobholders shows that, in affected regions, there was a higher proportion of individuals who only worked at 1 job in the past 52 weeks in 2022‑23 (43.4%) as compared to the same statistics for individuals in 2015-2017 (42.6%)
• Descriptive analysis on benefit entitlement shows that a lower share of claimants received more than 40 weeks of benefits in 2022‑23 relative to the projected share for claimants from 2015 to 2017 (if they had claimed in 2022‑23). This indicates that claimants in affected regions did not increase their insurable hours to offset the effect of the decline in the regional unemployment rate
• The survival analysis and regression analysis both show that the decline in regional unemployment rates did not cause the share of benefit used to increase significantly. The likelihood of benefit exhaustion was higher for non-seasonal claimants who were in affected regions in 2022‑23

Availability

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Author(s), year

ESDC: Evaluation Directorate, 2025

Objective(s)

This study aims to provide evidence on how the frequency of seasonal claiming fluctuates based on alternative definitions of a seasonal claim.

Key finding(s)

• Overall, depending on the definition used, the number of seasonal claims vary between about 400,000 (representing about 31% of EI claims and 2% of the labour force) and 210,000 annually (representing about 16% of EI claims and 1% of the labour force)
• Across the different seasonal definitions examined, fluctuations in the number of claimants are subject to regular patterns, with a spike for men at the end of each calendar year and for women in June/July of each year
• Frequent and non-seasonal claims showed less pronounced patterns of seasonality. Women frequent claimants, relative to women seasonal claimants, are more likely to claim in the end of each year
• At a macro-level, the number of EI seasonal claimants and the number of seasonal workers identified by the Labour Force Survey are comparable. However, key differences emerge in the worker profile, particularly due to young workers 15 to 24 years old, who may work in the summer and return to school on a full-time basis for the rest of the year
• The number of seasonal claimants and workers is comparable across industries, except for the services industry where the number of EI seasonal claimants exceed the number of LFS seasonal workers by about 189,000 workers annually, representing 0.08% of the labour force
• When examining seasonal workers across industries except services industry, difference across regions remains. Largest differences between the 2 methods of identification are observed for claimants and workers residing in the Atlantic provinces and Ontario

Availability

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Author(s), year

ESDC: Evaluation Directorate, 2025

Objective(s)

This evaluation builds upon the previous evaluation of the Work-Sharing Program completed in 2016. As such, the evaluation approach seeks to provide evidence towards whether the Program is continuing to meet its stated objectives. It also provides evidence on whether improvements were made to the delivery and awareness of the Program since the 2016 evaluation. The primary scope of this evaluation was employers and employees who participated in a Work-Sharing agreement any time between 2013 and 2020, including the application process in place prior to the pandemic.

Key finding(s)

Availability

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Author(s), year

ESDC: Evaluation Directorate, 2024

Objective(s)

This study informs the characteristics of individuals who had their EI premiums refunded from 2006 to 2021 based on the fixed $2,000 threshold set in 1997. It also provides the profile of individuals who would have received a refund had the fixed threshold been indexed based on inflation or the lowest provincial minimum wage.

Key finding(s)

• While the total number of individuals with employment income steadily increased from 2006 to 2021, the number of individuals who were eligible for the EI premium refund decreased. As a result, the share of workers eligible for the EI premium refund decreased from 4.2% in 2006 to 3.1% in 2021. Furthermore, the average refund amount decreased from $18 in 2006 to $15 in 2021 as a result of the EI premium rate decreasing over this period
• Since 2006, the average age of low-income earners eligible for the EI premium refund has increased. The analysis also showed that if the $2,000 threshold had been indexed for inflation, younger low-income earners would have benefited the most from its indexation. In addition, a higher proportion of individuals with low total income as well as individuals with a spouse with low total income would have received the EI premium refund
• In terms of the characteristics that effect the probability of an individual being eligible for the EI premium refund based on the simulated inflation and minimum wage indexed thresholds, the regression analysis found:
  • low-income earners aged under 20 were 2.8 percentage points more likely to be in the inflation group and 3 percentage points more likely to be in the minimum wage group compared to the current group
  • students were 3.8 percentage points more likely to be in the inflation group and 6.6 percentage points more likely to be minimum wage group compared to the current group
  • low-income earners who paid union dues and who worked in regions with a higher unemployment rate were more likely to be in either the inflation or minimum wage group compared to the current group

Availability

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Author(s), year

Office of the Chief Actuary, 2023

Objective(s)

The purpose of this report is to provide the Commission with all the information prescribed under section 66.3 of the EI Act. Pursuant to this section, the Chief Actuary shall provide the Commission with a report that sets out: 1) the forecast premium rate for the following year and a detailed analysis in support of the forecast; 2) the calculations performed for the purposes of sections 4 and 69 of the EI Act; 3) the information provided under section 66.1; and 4) the source of the data, the actuarial and economic assumptions and the actuarial methodology used.

Key finding(s)

• The 2024 Maximum Insurable Earnings (MIE) was $63,200 or a 2.8% increase from the 2023 MIE of $61,500
• The 2024 estimated cost savings to the EI program that are generated by employer sponsored qualified wage-loss plans were $1,290 million

Availability

This report is available at: 2024 Actuarial Report - Employment insurance premium rate (osfi-bsif.gc.ca)

Author(s), year

ESDC: Integrated Workload Workforce Management Branch, 2025

Objective(s)

This study investigates delays in the transmission of Records of Employment (ROEs) by employers between 2017 and 2024, by examining compliance with regulatory requirements and the impact of non-compliance on the administration of the Employment Insurance program.

Key finding(s)

• 62.11% of ROEs associated with EI claims between 2017 and 2024 were submitted within the prescribed timelines (within 5 calendar days of the end of the pay period [final pay period] or 15 days after the first day of an interruption in earnings [last day paid])
• 61.82% of ROEs submitted to Service Canada were never used to establish a claim for benefits, while 2.38% of ROEs used on claims were late enough to significantly increase the complexity of processing and impacts for claimants
• No yearly trends in compliance with prescribed timelines were identified
• Reason for separation was a significant factor affecting timeliness of ROEs, with Strike or Lockout, Leave of Absence, Illness or Injury, and Voluntary Leaving having the highest degree of influence on whether an ROE was submitted on time
• Small firms were nearly twice as likely (92.25%) to deliver ROEs on time when compared to their large counterparts
• On average, there were 68,500 cases per year requiring a Service Canada officer's intervention relating to a missing or late ROE. Of these, 7.67% were escalated to the Integrity Services Branch (ISB) for further attention

Availability

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