Employment Insurance Monitoring and Assessment Report for the fiscal year beginning April 1, 2016 and ending March 31, 2017 - Annex 6: Key studies referenced in chapters II and IV

From: Employment and Social Development Canada

1. 2017 Actuarial Report on the Employment Insurance Premium Rate

Author(s), Year

Office of the Chief Actuary, 2016

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: i) the forecast premium rate for the upcoming year and a detailed analysis in support of the forecast; ii) the calculations performed for the purposes of sections 4, 66 and 69 of the EI Act; and iii) the source of the data, the actuarial and economic assumptions and the actuarial methodology used.

Key finding(s)

The 2017 Maximum Insurable Earnings (MIE) was $51,300 or a 1.0% increase from the 2016 MIE of $50,800.
The 2017 estimated employer premium reduction due to qualified wage-loss replacement (WLR) plans is $955 million, compared to $915 million in 2016.

Availability

This report is available on the Canada Employment Insurance Financing Board’s website

2. Inflation and Fixed Dollar Thresholds: The EI Family Supplement

Author(s), Year

ESDC, Evaluation Directorate, 2014

Objective(s)

This paper examines the extent to which the number of families eligible to receive the EI family supplement has decreased over the period between 2001 and 2013. It also examines how the real value of the family supplement (adjusted for inflation) has evolved and explores the concept of an indexed eligibility threshold.

Key finding(s)

Between 2001 and 2012, the number of households in Canada that received the EI family supplement has decreased by roughly 50%, from 160,155 claimants in 2001 to 79,598 in 2012. Many factors, including changes in family composition, real wage growth, and inflation, can explain this decrease. The total cost of the EI family supplement also has decreased, from $181.6 M in 2001 to $98.7 M in 2012.
The average nominal value of the family supplement paid to claimants has been relatively constant between 2001 and 2012, but when adjusted for inflation, the real value of the family supplement has decreased by 19% over the same period.
This paper suggested indexing the eligibility threshold and the value of the supplement to a measure of price increases. A first approach would be to use the same rate of increase that is used to adjust the maximum insured earnings to index family supplement eligibility. With this approach, the eligibility threshold would have been $31,504 in 2013. Under the second scenario based on the Consumer Price Index, the eligibility for family supplement would have been capped at $35,211 in 2013.

Availability

A PDF version of this document can be ordered by calling 1 800 O-Canada (1-800-622-6232). If you use a TTY, call 1-800-926-9105. The PDF version can only be sent via e-mail. Please note there will be a certain delay before receiving the documents.

3. Use of EI Regular and Special Benefits by Maternity and Parental Claimants

Author(s), Year

ESDC, Evaluation Directorate, 2013

Objective(s)

This study examines the use of EI special and regular benefits by maternity and parental claimants. The objective is to determine the extent to which these claimants combine benefits and how. Given that Quebec introduced the Quebec Parental Insurance Plan in 2006, the focus of the report is on claims from Canada outside of Quebec.

Key finding(s)

The number of maternity and parental claims rose by 17.5% from FY0203 to FY1011. Most noticeable is the increase in parental claims for males, which rose by 43.1% from 18,830 to 26,950 over the same period.
Most claimants did not combine benefits. For males, 84.5% of the parental claims were not combined with any other type of claims. When males combined benefits, they most often did so with regular benefits (11.2%). The overall duration of claims averaged 20 weeks.
For females, the proportion of claims with only maternity/parental benefits was 82.7%. When benefits were combined, females most often combined maternity/parental benefits with sickness benefits (11.9%). When sickness benefits were combined with maternity/parental benefits, almost all claims paid sickness benefits first (98.3%). The overall duration of claims averaged 47.6 weeks.
Working in occupations requiring university education or a high level of skill for management positions decreased the likelihood of combining benefits. As insured earnings and insured hours increased there was a decrease in the likelihood that claimants would combine benefits.

Availability

4. Use of Sickness Flexibility Provisions

Author(s), Year

ESDC, Evaluation Directorate, 2016

Objective(s)

The paper examines the use of the provisions that expanded access to EI sickness benefits for claimants in receipt of parental benefits (March 24, 2013), compassionate care benefits or benefits for parents of critically ill children (October 12, 2014).

Key finding(s)

The study suggests that few claimants took advantage of the provisions:

The number of parental claims converted to sickness benefits increased from 134 (FY1112) to 485 (FY1415). The average duration of sickness benefits used in converted claims seems to have slightly increased in the post-provision periods while the proportion of claims that exhausted sickness benefits remained at similar levels.
The number of claims for compassionate care benefits converted to sickness benefits increased from 63 in FY1314 to 93 in FY1514.
No claim for the benefits for parents of critically ill children used the provisions in FY1314 and FY1415.

Availability

5. Compassionate Care Benefits: Update

Author(s), Year

ESDC, Evaluation Directorate, 2018

Objective(s)

The report describes the impact of the 2016 extension of the maximum duration on compassionate care benefits usage, and presents a socio-economic profile of individuals who applied for and received the benefits.

Key finding(s)

In FY1516, most compassionate care applicants were caring for their mother or father (58.1 %), followed by a spouse or partner (27.5%).
On average, 8.7 weeks of benefits were paid in FY1516 compared to 4.8 in FY1011.
Approximately one third of compassionate care applicants did not receive benefits. The main reason for not receiving the benefits was that the applicants received other employment insurance benefits, followed by the absence of the medical certificate.
Applicants in British Columbia and Territories were statistically significantly more likely to have their applications approved.
Multivariate analysis suggests that the probability of not using all weeks available to the claimants is mainly explained by the mortality of care recipients. However, the impact of the mortality on this probability is mitigated by the extension of the benefits duration from 6 to 26 weeks.

Availability

6. The Redistributional Impact of Employment Insurance 2007–2009

Author(s), Year

Ross Finnie, Queen’s University School of Policy Studies; and Ian Irvine, Concordia University (for HRSDC, Evaluation Directorate, 2013)

Objective(s)

The objective of this study is to investigate the degree to which Canada’s EI program has redistributed purchasing power during the recent economic recession. More precisely, the 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)

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

7. Financial Impacts of Receiving Employment Insurance

Author(s), Year

Constantine Kapsalis, Data Probe Economic Consulting Inc., 2010

Objective(s)

This study explores the financial impact of receiving EI benefits. It 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)

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

8. Industry of Employment after a Layoff

Author(s), Year

ESDC, Economic Policy Directorate, 2016

Objective(s)

This study examines whether EI claimants returned to their industry of employment after a layoff by looking at the probabilities of re-employment, the patterns of re-employment and transition between industries for EI claimants after job separation, as well as their determinants.

Key finding(s)

Over the period of 2005 to 2013, 56% of laid-off workers returned to the same industry of layoff, regardless of their EI claim status, while only 27% of them changed industry. Another 10% left the labour force, while the remaining 7% were still looking for work at the time of the survey.
Claiming EI also reduced the likelihood of the laid-off workers to change industry. 21% of laid-off workers that claimed EI changed industry compared to 33% of laid-off workers that did not claim EI and changed industry.
Re-employed workers’ wage variation was similar for claimants and non-claimants who returned to the same industry following their layoff. However, a higher proportion of claimants than non-claimants experienced a wage drop when changing industry (51% vs 43% respectively).

Availability

9. Estimating the Impact of Active Labour Market Programs using Administrative Data and Matching Methods

Author(s), Year

Andy Handouyahia, Georges Awad, Stéphanie Roberge, Tony Haddad and Yves Gingras, ESDC, Evaluation Directorate, 2016

Objective(s)

This study discusses the impacts of three active labour market programs delivered in Canada between 2002 and 2005 under the Labour Market Development Agreements. It analyzes the impacts of the programs on the employability and employment earnings of the participating individuals in the short and medium term (up to five years) following their participation, by comparing individuals who received these interventions to those who did not participate.

Key finding(s)

The overall effect of the program in raising employment and earnings among the participants is positive and highly significant. The participants also had reduction in EI benefits collected after their participation.
Participation in Skills Development (SD) services led to the largest incremental gains in employment earnings among all active labour market programs. During the five years following participation, the annual employment earnings of participants were $204 to $4,059 higher than if they had not participated. The incremental impacts on earnings grew continuously over the five years that followed the end of participation.
SD participants also had gains in incidence of employment, ranging from 2.4 to 4.4 percentage points.
Similarly, participants in Targeted Wage Subsidies had incremental gains in earnings and incidence of employment after participating in those services.
Employment Assistance Services participants had increases in incidence of employment and decreases in EI use in all years after participation which suggest that they returned to employment after participation. However, those participants had short-term decreases in earnings.

Availability

This study can be found on Statistics Canada International Symposium Series’ website.

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

Author(s), Year

HRSDC, Evaluation Directorate, 2011

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. This paper compares mobility and commuting patterns of EI recipients and non-recipients.

Key finding(s)

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.
Following a job loss, EI recipients were more likely than non-EI recipients to move more than 100 kilometres away.

Availability

11. Interprovincial Mobility and Earnings

Author(s), Year

André Bernard, Ross Finnie and Benoît St-Jean, Statistics Canada, 2008

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)

Factors such as personal and labour market characteristics, as well as moving costs, play a key role in mobility decisions.
Individuals in slack local labour markets are more inclined to migrate to another province. Improvements in labour market conditions and labour market outcomes of individuals would appear likely to reduce out-migration rates.
Younger people were much more likely to migrate with results suggesting that young migrants leaving relatively poorer provinces successfully integrate into their new labour market.

Availability

This study can be found on Statistics Canada’s website.

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

Author(s), Year

HRSDC, Evaluation Directorate, 2012

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)

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

13. ROE-based Measures of EI Eligibility: Update 2001-2016

Author(s), Year

ESDC, Evaluation Directorate, 2018

Objective(s)

This study examines the percentage of job separators with enough hours to meet the variable entrance requirement (VER) and the percentage of laid-off job separators with an EI claim. It looks at the eligibility and the claim rates across unemployment rates, provinces, industries and regions.

Key finding(s)

The percentage of Record of Employment (ROE) with enough combined hours in a given year to qualify for EI regular benefits varies from a low of 67.9% (2007) to a high of 73.9% (2009) over the 2001 to 2016 period.
The percentage of the laid-off job separators with enough combined hours in the last 52 weeks to qualify for EI regular benefits followed a general downward trend from 2001 (75.4%) to 2016 (70.1%). The percentage of the laid-off job separators with enough combined hours generally increased with the unemployment rate.
The share of the laid-off job separators who received EI benefits among the total number of laid-off job separators with enough hours in the last 52 weeks trended downward during the 2001-2016 period from 67.1% in 2001 to 57.0% in 2016. In a given year, eligibility typically increased with the unemployment rate.
Regression analysis shows that the probability to receive EI benefits is the highest in the Construction industry (72.7%) and the lowest in the Information, culture and recreation industry (59.6%).

Availability

14. Record of Employment and Interruptions of Earnings: Firms

Author(s), Year

ESDC, Evaluation Directorate, 2018

Objective(s)

The study examines the extent to which employers issue a Record of Employment (ROE) when there is an interruption of earnings and how the percentage of earnings interruptions without an ROE varies by characteristics of the job.

Key finding(s)

The percentage of earnings interruptions without an ROE generally declined over the years from 46.2% in 2000 to 30.2% in 2014.
The frequency of earnings interruptions without an ROE varies by industry sector, firm size, earnings percentiles, union membership, and provinces and territories.
In 2014, the Service sector had the highest percentage of earnings interruptions without an ROE (32.7%) while the Manufacturing industry had the lowest percentage (18.1%).
The percentage of earnings interruptions without an ROE was 40.8% for small-sized firms in 2014, which is about 17 percentage points higher than for medium sized or large firms (23.7%).
The percentage of earnings interruptions without an ROE decreases with higher earnings.
A higher proportion of earnings interruptions without an ROE was observed for non-unionized jobs (34.2%) compared to unionized jobs (12.9%).
The Territories had the highest proportion of interruptions without an ROE (40.8%), followed by British Colombia (35.9%).

Availability

15. Access and Eligibility to EI Regular Benefits among Young People in Canada’s Labour Market

Author(s), Year

ESDC, Employment Insurance Policy Directorate, 2018

Objective(s)

This study examines the coverage, eligibility, and access of young people to the EI program over time (2000 to 2015) on the basis of different demographic characteristics.

Key finding(s)

Between 2008 and 2015, there was a 7.4 percentage points decline, from 61.8% in 2000 to 54.4% in 2015, in the EI coverage rate of youth. Over the same period of time, the decline is only 0.7 percentage points for people aged 25-44 years.
The EI eligibility rate for youth was 54.0% in 2015, while it was 82.1% for individuals aged 25-44 years and 90.7% for those aged 45 years and over.
The Beneficiaries-to-Unemployment (B/U) and Beneficiaries-to-Unemployment Contributors (B/UC) ratios for youth declined by almost 7 percentage points over the period of 2000 to 2015.
Compared to men, women always had lower B/U and B/UC ratios (around 10 percentage points lower).
The study finds that the decline in EI coverage for youth was due to the rise in EI non-contributors among the unemployed youth, while the drop in eligibility was primarily due to the lower number of insurable hours and valid job separations among the young unemployed EI contributors.

Availability

16. Extension of Employment Insurance Regular Benefits to Unemployed Workers with Exhausted Entitlement in Commodity-Based Regions

Author(s), Year

ESDC, Employment Insurance Policy Directorate, 2018

Objective(s)

This study examines the effects of the extended benefits announced in Budget 2016 on regular benefit claimants residing in 15 EI economic regions most affected by the downturn in commodity prices of 2015, and who exhausted their entitlement prior to the implementation of the measure (referred in the study as “reach-back claimants”).

Key finding(s)

A total of 75,690 reach-back claims received $301.5M in additional benefits.
Almost half (49.4%) of these reach-back claims (37,420) were from Alberta.
Claims associated with long-tenured workers (LTWs) accounted for 30.6% of all reach-back claims but received 64.6% of all additional EI regular benefits paid. This reflects the greater number of additional weeks they were entitled to receive.
Reach-back claims received on average 8.8 weeks (18.1 weeks for LTWs and 4.7 weeks for non-LTWs, reflecting the greater entitlement for LTWs). Among all affected reach-back claims, 74.8% exhausted their additional benefit entitlement. The exhaustion rate was 86.8% for non-LTWs and 47.6% for LTWs.

Availability

17. Evaluation of Initiatives to Extend EI Regular Benefits

Author(s), Year

ESDC, Evaluation Directorate, 2016

Objective(s)

This study presents the evaluation findings of the Extended Duration of EI Regular Benefits (EDB) and the Pilot Project Relating to Extended Benefits (Pilot 15). It examines the take up by EI claimants of the additional weeks of benefits provided and the impact on the length of EI claims, as well as on the likelihood of exhausting entitlements and benefits during the pilot periods.

Key finding(s)

The EDB provided an estimated spending stimulus of 2.5 billion dollars between March 9, 2008 and September 11, 2010, for which 57% ($1.41 billion) is attributed to the additional EDB weeks paid and 43% ($1.09 billion) is attributed to increased use of regular entitlement among all EI claimants.
The EDB initiative resulted in 34% of regular claimants using additional benefits, of which 76% used the entire additional 5 weeks. In addition, the EDB initiative allowed all claimants, not only claimants who used the additional weeks, to remain on EI for 1.6 weeks longer on average and to reduce entitlement benefit exhaustion by 5.3 percentage points.
Pilot Project No. 15 reduced the number of seasonal workers facing an income gap with a 3.3 percentage point probability decrease, and also led to a decrease in the income gap length of seasonal income gappers by 2.2 weeks on average.
However, only 3.2% of the total 558 million of additional benefit paid during Pilot 15 period was used by seasonal income gappers.

Availability

18. Who are Workers Working for When Working While on Claim?

Author(s), Year

ESDC, Evaluation Directorate, 2016

Objective(s)

This study investigates the pre-claim and post-claim relationships between EI claimants who work while on claim and their employers. The target population is composed of “pure” regular claimants (those who received only regular benefits during their claim) who started their claim in 2010.

Key finding(s)

Almost three-quarters (73.8%) of claimants who worked while on claim did so for a single employer.
The average claimant who worked while on claim, worked about one-third (32.3%) of the weeks spent on claim. The weeks of employment (both in absolute terms and as a percentage of the weeks on claim) increase with the number of employers. This suggests that those who try to work more weeks during the claim have to look for employment opportunities with more employers.
For 76.0% of claimants, working during an EI claim led to longer than a year employment after the claim.
Virtually all claimants (94.8%) who worked while on claim worked for the same employer before and/or after their claim.

Availability

19. Employment Insurance Support of Apprenticeship Training

Author(s), Year

ESDC, Employment Insurance Policy Directorate, and Service Canada Employment Insurance Benefits Processing Directorate, 2018.

Objective(s)

This study examines the performance of administrative processing of EI claims for apprentices, identifies the source and/or reason that warrants manual intervention, and analyzes the impacts of not serving the waiting period.

Key finding(s)

A greater share of EI apprentices (84.5% in FY1617) had their application finalized within 28 days of filling compared with all regular claimants (78.5% in FY1617).
Overall, 76.2% of the 57,099 applications from EI apprentices in FY1617 have been fully or partially processed automatically compared with 72.7% for all applications. Among all apprentices’ applications processed automatically, over three-quarters were fully processed automatically.
The main reason for delays in the processing of an application is the delay in receiving the Record of Employment.
40.5% of EI apprentices filed their application only after their course had already begun, suggesting that they were possibly unaware of the filing process, did not have all the information required to submit their application early enough or had sufficient financial resources to afford to wait before receiving their first EI benefits payments.
Of all apprentices’ applications that were finalized in FY1617, 45.8% were exempted from serving the waiting period. On average, apprentices received $416 in EI benefits per week.

Availability

20. Job-related Training of Older Workers

Author(s), Year

Jungwee Park, Statistics Canada, 2012

Objective(s)

This study focus on three areas: if there is differences in the participation rate in job-related training between those aged 55 to 64 (older workers) and those aged 25 to 54 (core aged employees); the characteristics of older workers that are associated with an increased participation in job training; and finally how the participation of older workers in employer-supported training has changed over time.

Key finding(s)

Older-workers (55 to 64) have a much lower probability of taking job-related training than core-aged individuals. Specifically, 32% of older workers took training compared to 45% of core-aged workers.
Among older workers, the characteristics associated with lower training rates were education less than postsecondary, temporary employment, and sales and service jobs.
The training gap between older and younger workers has been closing, primarily because of increases in educational attainment and changes in types of jobs.

Availability

This report is available on Statistics Canada’s website.

21. Training and the Duration of Employment Insurance Benefits

Author(s), Year

ESDC, Economic Policy Directorate, 2016

Objective(s)

This study, using data from the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID), looked at the impact of participation in job-related training on the incidence of receiving EI regular benefits and the duration of regular benefit payments during the period 2002 to 2008.

Key finding(s)

For men who participated in job-related training in a given year, the probability of receiving EI regular benefits in the following year was reduced by 1.4 percentage points, from an average predicted probability of 4.7%.
For women who participated in job-related training in a given year, the probability of receiving EI regular benefits in the following year was found to be reduced by 0.6 percentage points, from an average predicted probability of 4.1%.
Among different types of training, it was found that it is employer-sponsored and workplace-based job-related training that reduced the incidence of receiving EI regular benefits; self-sponsored and classroom-based job-related training were not found to have an impact.
With respect to the duration of EI regular benefits, participation in job-related training in a given year had only a limited impact, reducing the duration of benefit payments in the following year by 1.6 days among male recipients and 0.9 days among female recipients.

Availability

22. Usage of the Work-Sharing Program: 2000/2001 to 2016/2017

Author(s), Year

ESDC, Evaluation Directorate, 2018

Objective(s)

This report examines the usage of the Work-Sharing program, including the number and distribution of layoffs averted and the incidence of shutdowns among Work-Sharing employers from FY0001 to FY1617.

Key finding(s)

From FY0001 to FY1617, Work-Sharing participants accounted for less than 1% of employment in Canada.
Work-sharing usage and expenditures are counter-cyclical: the Program is used more intensively during periods of economic downturn and less intensively during periods of economic recovery.
The average benefit duration was around 20 weeks. It peaked at 39.4 in FY0809 when temporary extensions were available.
The estimated layoffs averted varied from lows of around 1,000 in FY0708 and in FY1415 to more than 24,000 in FY0910.
More than half of employers (55.7%) who participated in the Work-Sharing program in 2001 had shut down in 2015, compared to 75.4% of non-Work-Sharing employers during the same period.

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23. EI Payroll Tax Refunds: The Characteristics of Firms Benefitting from the EI Premium Reduction Program 2000-2013

Author(s), Year

ESDC, Evaluation Directorate, 2016

Objective(s)

This study describes the characteristics of firms benefitting from the EI Premium Reduction Program (PRP) over tax years 2000 to 2013.

Key finding(s)

The PRP has four categories of short-term disability plans that qualify for premium reduction. Employers may register and receive premium reductions for more than one plan. Most employers (around 90%) register for Category 3 plans - representing weekly indemnity plans with a minimum benefit period of at least 15 weeks.
Larger firms were found to be more likely to participate in the PRP and to register more than one plan. Firms that had unions were also more likely to participate. These observations are consistent with previous results.
In 2013, there were 26,650 employers with EI premium reductions, down from 31,040 participating employers in 2000. The decline in employer participation coincided with an increase by 21% in the number of employers in Canada. The changes in employer participation did not result in a decline in the percentage of workers covered: both the number of workers and the percentage of workers covered increased over the period. At the end of the study period, 7.1 million (34.8%) of workers had employment in firms receiving a premium reduction.

Availability

24. Assessing the Hiring Credit for Small Business

Author(s), Year

Finance Canada and ESDC, Employment Insurance Policy Directorate, 2018

Objective(s)

This study examines if the Hiring Credit for Small Business (HCSB) was effective in encouraging employment by increasing the number of workers within firms or by increasing their payrolls, and explores if the HCSB increased qualifying firms’ productivity, revenues, investment, or research and development (R&D) spending.

Key finding(s)

Between 2011 and 2013, the HCSB provided an average of $220 million in employer premium relief to approximately 550,000 firms annually.
Firms that benefitted from the HCSB received on average $400, or about 0.6% of their combined total of payrolls and EI premiums.
Generally, the study found no statistical evidence that the HCSB increased employment or payrolls, or helped improve firm performance in the form of increased productivity, revenue, investment or research and development expenditures.
The only positive evidence found by the study suggested that the HCSB helped increase hiring among unincorporated start-ups.

Availability

25. Employment Insurance and Aboriginal Skills and Employment Training Strategy (ASETS)

Author(s), Year

ESDC, Labour Market Information Directorate, 2018

Objective(s)

This study examines the labour market outcomes of ASETS participants before and after their participation in the program.

Key finding(s)

Over one-third (36.9%) of ASETS participants were EI-clients; the rest (63.1%) were Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) clients. Both groups generally improved their labour market outcomes associated with program participation.
For all cohorts from 2006 to 2012, for EI-clients, compared to the pre-program level, it was found that:
- Post-program average earnings increased by 22.6%.
- Post-program incidence of employment remained almost unchanged, with some variations across cohorts.
- The proportion of participants who received EI benefits increased by 0.8 percentage points, although there is a slight decrease for 2009 and 2011 cohorts. The average number of weeks on EI also increased by about 10.1%, suggesting evidence for improved attachment to the labour market.
- The proportion of participants who paid EI premiums decreased by 4.4 percentage points. However, the amount of EI premiums paid per year per client increased by 18.1%, with some variations across cohorts.

Availability

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Date modified:: 2018-04-27