Summary: Evaluation of the Canada-Northwest Territories Labour Market Development Agreement

On this page

• Program objectives
• The LMDAs investment
• Evaluation objectives
• Evaluation methodology
• Key findings
• Recommendations

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Program objectives

The Canada-Northwest Territories Labour Market Development Agreement (LMDA) is a bilateral agreement between Canada and the Northwest Territories for the design and delivery of Employment Benefits and Support Measures (EBSMs). The objective of EBSMs is to assist individuals to obtain or keep employment.

The following benefits and measures are examined in the evaluation.

Building Essential Skills provides direct financial assistance to individuals to select, arrange, and pay for training.

Training-on-the-Job helps participants obtain on-the-job work experience by providing employers with a wage subsidy.

Job Creation Partnerships provide participants with opportunities to gain work experience that will lead to ongoing employment.

Self-Employment Option aims to assist participants in creating employment for themselves by providing them with a range of services.

Employment Assistance Services support individuals as they prepare to enter or re-enter the workforce or assist them to find a better job.

Strategic Workforce Initiatives aim to support community partners in undertaking labour market activities that promote labour force development, workforce adjustments and effective human resources planning.

Research and Innovation aims to fund previously untried solutions to specific labour market issues or problems and create strategic investment mechanisms to fund experiments that could inform the development of policies, programs or industry practices.

The LMDA investment

In fiscal year 2020 to 2021, Canada transferred approximately $4.8 million to the Northwest Territories.

Evaluation objectives

Building on the success of previous LMDA evaluation cycles, the aim of this evaluation is to fill in knowledge gaps about the effectiveness, efficiency, as well as the design and delivery of EBSMs in the Northwest Territories.

Evaluation methodology

The findings are drawn from 8 separate evaluation studies that use a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods, including:

• incremental impact analysis for participants who began an intervention between 2009 and 2012
• outcome analysis
• cost-benefit analysis (including savings to health care)
• key informant interviews with 19 territorial program officials, caseworkers, service providers, and project holders
• questionnaires
• document and literature reviews

Key findings

Incremental impacts were produced for 2 programs: Building Essential Skills and Employment Assistance services. Where statistically significant results were produced, incremental impacts showed that participation in these programs improved labour market attachment and reduced dependence on government income supports compared to similar non-participants.

A subgroup analysis of medium-term outcomes showed that female, male, youth, and Indigenous participants in Building Essential Skills and Employment Assistance Services generally:

• had higher earnings
• used Employment Insurance benefits less, but used social assistance benefits more
• had a lower incidence of employment, which could partially be explained by participants’ retirement decisions

Outcomes analysis was conducted for 2 programs: Training-on-the-Job and Employment Assistance Services. Outcomes for participants in these programs were consistent with those for subgroup participants in Building Essential Skills and Employment Assistance Services.

Recommendations

Two key recommendations for the Northwest Territories emerge:

Recommendation #1: The Northwest Territories is encouraged to share and discuss lessons learned, best practices and challenges associated with the design and delivery of program and services. Discussions are encouraged with ESDC, at the bilateral or multilateral levels as well as with the territorial service delivery network if necessary.

Recommendation #2: The Northwest Territories is encouraged to pursue efforts to maintain and strengthen data collection provisions in support of reporting, performance measurement and data-driven evaluations at the national and territorial levels.