Human Resources and Skills Development Canada
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Human Resources and Skills Development Canada

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Introduction

The monitoring and assessment of 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 and employers.

The sound evidence provided through regular monitoring and assessment has informed modifications to the EI program. These changes include enhancements of maternity and parental benefits, modifications of the rules concerning small weeks, the implementation of compassionate care benefits, the introduction of several pilot projects that test the impacts of measures in regions of high unemployment, the implementation of temporary measures to help Canadians during the economic downturn and the modernization of service delivery. To ensure that sound evidence continues to inform its direction, the Government of Canada will continue to monitor and assess the EI program.1

Chapter 1 of this report provides an overview of the Canadian labour market in 2008/09. Chapter 2 is an overview of EI benefits (income benefits) under Part I of the Employment Insurance Act for the same period. The support provided to unemployed workers through active re-employment measures, known as Employment Benefits and Support Measures, is discussed in Chapter 3. Chapter 4 presents information on EI program administration and service delivery. Chapter 5 analyzes the impacts and effectiveness of the EI program based on administrative data, internal and external research, and evaluative studies.

Canada Employment Insurance Commission

The Canada Employment Insurance Commission has four members who represent government, workers and employers. The chairperson and vice-chairperson (the deputy minister and senior associate deputy minister of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada) represent the federal government. The commissioners for workers and employers represent the interests of workers and employers, respectively. Among its other responsibilities, the Commission has been assigned the legislated mandate to annually monitor and assess the impacts of EI reform. The Commission must provide the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada with the report no later than March 31. The minister then tables the report in Parliament.

Legislated Mandate

Section 3(1) of the Employment Insurance Act states the following.

“The Commission shall monitor and assess:

  1. how individuals, communities and the economy are adjusting to the changes made by this Act to the insurance and employment assistance programs under the Unemployment Insurance Act;
  2. whether the savings expected as a result of the changes made by this Act are being realized; and
  3. the effectiveness of the benefits and other assistance provided under this Act, including
  1. how the benefits and assistance are utilized by employees and employers; and
  2. 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."

1The preparation of the Monitoring and Assessment Report involves using many sources of information to analyze the effects of the program on individuals, communities and the economy, which include Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) administrative data, Canadian Out-of-Employment Panel (COEP) studies, information from Statistics Canada and evaluation studies funded by HRSDC. As in previous reports, this report includes references to evaluation studies that touch on benefits provided under both Part I and Part II of the Employment Insurance Act.

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Date Modified:
2011-11-02