:
Merci beaucoup, Madam Chair and members of the standing committee. I'm pleased to have this opportunity to appear before you again today to provide an update on implementation of the economic stimulus package since our last appearance on February 12.
As indicated, my name is Paul Thompson. I'm the associate assistant deputy minister for the skills and employment branch at HRSDC.
Specifically, I've been asked to provide the committee with an update on three items: the progress on the stimulus package as it relates to employment insurance and skills training funding; wait times for the processing of EI claims, including month-by-month processing times from December 1, 2008, to April 30, 2009; as well as the additional $60 million in funding allocated for the timely processing of EI claims.
As Madam Vice-Chair indicated, I'm joined by colleagues who will be able to speak to various elements of the implementation of the economic action plan: Joanne Lamothe, assistant deputy minister for program operations, who will be able to speak to programs on work sharing, youth, and the aboriginal programs; Liliane Binette, assistant deputy minister for operations, on service delivery and processing of claims; and Mike Saucier, the acting chief financial officer.
[Translation]
When I last appeared before the Committee in February, I described the measures that make up the Canada Skills and Transition Strategy and how we plan to implement them. Today, I will give you an update on the implementation of these measures.
Over all, significant progress has been made to help workers who are losing their jobs as a result of the current recession or because of structural changes affecting particular Canadian industries. All the necessary policy and financial authorities have been obtained, and Canadians are benefiting from the changes to the Employment Insurance program, as well as increased investments in training and skills development.
[English]
Turning to the employment insurance measures, the government has made changes to EI to provide more benefits and easier access, preserve jobs, and support those hardest hit through training and skills upgrading so that they can find a new job.
Before discussing the impact of the employment insurance measures, I would like to remind the committee and update it on how the EI program is adjusted every month to respond to changes in regional unemployment rates.
As members may know, the EI system is divided into 58 distinct regions to recognize diverse labour market situations across the country. When unemployment goes up in a particular region, the number of hours required to qualify for EI decreases, and it therefore becomes easier to access EI. In addition, the duration of benefit increases. This reflects the current reality that in the hardest-hit regions it is harder to find and to keep jobs.
As a result of this flexibility, since October 2008 more than 85% of Canadian workers now have easier access to EI regular benefits, and for a longer period of time. Since October 2008, all regions in Ontario, B.C., and Alberta have seen the number of hours required to qualify reduce and the duration of benefits increase. In the hardest hit parts of Ontario, B.C., and Alberta, the number of insurable hours to qualify for EI has fallen by up to 175 hours, and the duration of benefits has increased by up to 14 weeks.
I will now turn to some of the enhancements to the employment insurance program.
The government is providing up to five extra weeks of EI benefits to support Canadians who lose their jobs. This new measure, with an estimated cost of $1.15 billion, came into effect on March 1, 2009. As of the end of May, more than 150,000 Canadians had received additional benefits worth approximately $196 million, and about 50% of these Canadians had exhausted their benefits prior to March 1.
The government is also making investments in the EI system to ensure that Canadians get timely and good-quality services. By March 31, almost 3.1 million claims had been processed, representing an increase of 17.8% over the previous fiscal year.
Human Resources and Skills Development Canada has received more than $60 million for the fiscal year 2009-10 to respond to the increasing volume in EI claims across the country and to implement the expansion and the extension of work sharing agreements, as well as the increased duration in EI benefits.
With these additional resources, the department has hired 900 more staff to process claims, hired 110 more call centre agents to answer questions, extended the hours of operation for EI call centres by two hours, increased Saturday service capacity in a number of centres, and updated the Service Canada website to make it more user friendly and to include information on all the new EI measures.
[Translation]
Since January 2009, Canadians have been receiving their first cheques within 24 days on average, even with the dramatic increase in EI claims. In the period from December 2008 to April 2009, the average time for Canadians to receive their benefit cheques ranged from 22 to 25 days.
[English]
Within the next three months, an additional 400 staff will be hired and trained to improve this efficiency even further. The department will continue to monitor intake of claims and our ability to respond and will adjust staffing levels as appropriate going forward.
Turning to another initiative, the career transition assistance initiative is now being launched in partnership with provinces and territories. This initiative is designed to help laid-off workers, particularly those with many years of experience, who need to change occupations or industry to find a new job. It will provide EI income support for up to two years for long-tenured workers with many years of job experience to develop new skills to find a new job. It will also give unemployed long-tenured workers earlier access to EI regular benefits if they use all or part of their separation package to pay for eligible training. We anticipate that over 40,000 long-tenured workers will benefit from these measures. We are on track for implementation, with letters being sent this month to more than 148,000 potential participants to make them aware of their eligibility.
The government has also frozen EI premium rates for 2010 at $1.73, the same rate as for 2009. This measure provides a projected combined $10.5 billion stimulus for the economy over two years.
Extended benefits are now available under the wage earner protection program to all eligible employees whose employer became bankrupt after January 26, 2009, to cover unpaid severance and termination pay up to a maximum of four weeks of maximum insurable earnings as defined in the Employment Insurance Act. As of May 23, in terms of implementation of this measure, 328 Canadians have benefited from this measure at a cost of just over $600,000.
[Translation]
Government efforts are also focused on protecting…
:
Turning to skills training measures, as you know, the government is investing in enhancing the availability of training, both to assist workers hit hardest by the economic downturn now and as an investment for the longer term.
We are working with provinces and territories to provide funding for training and program services. The government is investing an additional $1.5 billion through agreements with provinces and territories. This investment is expected to assist up to 150,000 individuals over the next two years. The negotiation of agreements for both the strategic training and transition fund and the increased funding for the labour market development agreements are progressing well. To date, nine of these agreements have been signed. Agreements in principle exist with Newfoundland and Labrador and the territories, and we expect the signing of these agreements very soon, later this month.
The government is also working with provinces and territories to implement the announcement of a $60 million increase over three years to the targeted initiative for older workers, which will support 6,000 or more older workers. To date, six provinces and territories have signed amendments for this budget 2009 funding. Six others are being actively discussed, and only Alberta is indicating it will not be participating in this program.
The Canada summer jobs program for 2009 has also been launched. Nationwide, approximately 22,000 employers have been offered funding to create over 39,000 jobs for students. MPs have been informed of their increased allocations, and agreements are being finalized with employers, and the hiring of students began in May.
To further help unemployed youth develop the necessary skills to get jobs, the government is creating a one-time grant of $15 million with the YMCA and the YWCA to create internships in the not-for-profit sector and community services organizations, with a focus on environmental projects. Agreements with the YMCA and YWCA have now been finalized.
With the additional funding for the aboriginal skills and employment partnership, five additional projects have been approved, worth a total of $18.8 million. These will help secure long-term jobs for approximately 1,300 aboriginal people. A second request for proposals closed in mid-May for the next round, in which we would expect to fund up to 20 additional projects.
As well, an application process was launched on May 4 for the aboriginal skills and training strategic investment fund. The deadline for this application process is June 19, and we would expect approximately 3,700 aboriginal people will benefit from projects funded under this program.
The new $2,000 apprenticeship completion grant, offered to apprentices who successfully complete their training in a Red Seal trade, will begin accepting applications on July 2, with eligibility being retroactive to January 1, 2009. There we expect an estimated 20,000 apprentices will be able to benefit from the apprenticeship completion grant right away.
Finally, HRSDC is also working actively with provinces and territories to develop the pan-Canadian framework on foreign qualification recognition, to be presented to first ministers in September. An interim report will be submitted this month to the first ministers.
[Translation]
As I have outlined, significant progress has been made in implementing the Canada Skills and Transition Strategy and helping Canadians to weather the current economic environment. We will continue to move forward with the few outstanding commitments and monitor our ongoing progress. We have a rigourous process departmentally and will report to Parliament on a regular basis. We will also continue to work to improve our processing times for EI claims and have pledged to come back to Parliament to report on progress.
With the help of my colleagues, I would be very pleased to take any questions Committee members may have on the implementation of these measures.
:
Thank you for your question.
In fact, Mr. Savage, you know that there are two important peaks in the EI period, year after year. One has to do with the winter, which is usually in December, and the other one deals with the summer peak, which starts in June. In early October, we started seeing an important increase in the number of EI applications. Overall, for the year, we are talking about a 19.3% increase, but when we looked at when the increase really kicked in, it was in the last six months of the year. So it started in early October.
Between October and the end of March, we saw an increase of 30%, which was significant. So already, in October, we engaged in more activities to deal with the peak in the season. We took people from other lines of business that are not linked to direct public services. We seconded them to EI processing activities. That was the national workload strategy across the country.
:
Most of the examples you have given reflect situations where the documentation required to verify eligibility is provided in advance.
As regards employment insurance benefits, two documents are extremely important in order to verify benefit eligibility. First of all, there is the actual application made by the individual, and then there is the record of employment provided by the employer, which allows us to determine two important things. First, the accumulated number of hours worked, which determines the benefit period. We have to know the amount of money earned in wages in order to set the rate. The second piece of information is the reason for the separation. As you know, in situations that are complex and contentious, when an individual voluntarily quits his or her job, we have to determine whether the reason for the separation was valid.
Often people do not file their application the day that they lose their job. However, for us, calculation of the benefit period begins on the day they submit their application. Also, we must receive the record of employment from the employer in order to collate the data and pay the benefits. In addition to that, there is the two-week waiting period, during which no benefits are payable, because this is an insurance plan. So, because we pay the individual starting from the time we acknowledge that a person is eligible, because there is a two-week waiting period and because we ask the individual to report one week later, there are necessarily certain delays.
The number I gave you is a national average. Cases that are not contentious are obviously processed more quickly. However, in recent years, the national average has ranged from 23 to 25 days and, specifically, 23 days last year. This year, it is 24 days, month over month.
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I would be happy to talk about the work sharing program.
The work sharing program was announced. What we did was provide more flexibility. We did two things. We allowed the employers to basically have work sharing for a longer period of time, by providing them with an additional 14 weeks. So instead of 38 weeks, they would now be allowed to go to 52 weeks. We've also allowed them more flexibility in terms of the recovery plan, therefore allowing them more latitude to be able to qualify, so to speak.
We're very happy. As you've said, the uptake has been tremendous. It's a sign, I guess, of what's going on. What I would say is that the work sharing program is doing what it's supposed to do in this economy. It's basically helping employers who are facing temporary issues within their companies to be able to keep their skilled and trained workers while they're going through these tough economic times.
The uptake has been tremendous. Over the last four months, applications have been coming in. It has been very popular from that perspective. We presently have about 120,000 workers participating and approximately 3,500 agreements across the country.
I was relieved to hear that through a process of reasoning, we established that the $60 million was additional money. I know that in the adjournment proceedings another time, there was some suggestion that there wasn't new money for processing. We were brought to the place where I think even my learned colleague from Dartmouth—Cole Harbour accepts that there are additional funds put in there.
But that said, what I find remarkable is that your department has been on top of this. I see from the report that in January, February, and March you saw an increase of almost 50% in the number of applications. But given that, I see that for the corresponding months of January, February, and March, you were within the range of 22, 23, or 24 days of processing time, notwithstanding what I would call a very substantial increase in applications. I take it you would attribute that to a number of factors.
Could you maybe tell us how you were able to level out the processing, or what methods you used in terms of regional distribution and electronic processing that allowed you to stay on top of this, notwithstanding the increase in claims?
:
I can start on that, and Liliane can jump in as well.
As Liliane noted, and as I noted in my remarks, we've seen a very significant increase in the volume of claims being received in Service Canada offices. In response to this trend line of claims, we've made these additional investments. So there's a very real increase towards which those investments have been made.
With respect to access, as I outlined in the last committee appearance, there are various reasons why individuals don't have access to EI. The latest employment insurance coverage survey indicated that approximately 30% of the unemployed didn't pay premiums. Therefore, they weren't eligible, because they weren't part of the program. Another 16% didn't have the type of job separation that qualified. They either quit voluntarily or chose to go back to school. So a large portion of the unemployed don't access EI because of those two fairly significant reasons.
With respect to those who are eligible, we've seen, as I say, very significant increases in volume, which has been the basis for the additional investment.
:
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you for your time, and again, thank you for attending today. On behalf of the constituency of Huron—Bruce, I would like to say thanks for your work, which serves Canada and is done to help those who most need the help.
I just have an observation. I know we've talked a lot about the number of days to process claims and how that's obviously very important, and the percentage, and the argument over it. I just sometimes wonder, when I hear that coming from members, if all honourable members return responses and fix problems within 24 days; I'm not so sure it would be at the 80% level. That's just an observation.
I can go back to my own working career and the companies I've worked for. At one of the companies I worked for, they'd really never had any layoffs before. In 2007, I believe, or 2006, they had to start to lay people off. I know there were some issues, a lot of them surrounding the human resources department, because they'd actually never had to do that with the record of employment.
I wonder if you could give us a little bit more information on how your department and your agencies work with companies to help them along with the record of employment. I know from our casework in our riding that a lot of the issues are about the records of employment.
:
Certainly, and thank you for your question.
We do that through a different set of actions. One is that we do have agents across the country who know their employer populations, and they do undertake to meet with employers and provide them with information. They also organize information sessions to inform them about how this works.
We have another set of actions that is linked to a specialist position, a citizen services specialist position, in our offices across the country. One of their main responsibilities is to be proactive with employers: to reach out to employers and to provide them with information about the employment insurance program but also other programs that can help them, including, these days, work sharing.
We also offer to support employers in providing them access to the record of employment on the web. We train them in terms of how to do that. We offer them support in terms accessing the information from our specialized call centre on the record of employment on the web.
For employers, we also work with the Canadian Payroll Association as well as the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. We have regular discussions and seminars with them. In turn, they can help their members.
We also share best practices across the country. If we have a specialist who has come up with proactive ways to reach out to employers, ways that we have not experienced before, we share that with our other specialists so that we reach out not only in a proactive way but also on a very regular basis to help with the regular business, with changes, and with simplification activities.
:
Yes, the framework has four objectives.
The first is to come to an agreement with the provinces and territories, which have significant responsibilities in this area, on a common set of principles that will serve to guide collaborative work on recognition of credentials.
The second objective is to create standards that will ensure timeliness in the process of assessing credentials.
The third is to come to an agreement on the priority occupations for common recognition, taking into account labour market demand and volumes in each occupational group.
The last objective is to increase the part of the process that takes place overseas. The application for licensure could begin before the immigrant arrives in Canada, rather than having a process that begins only after their arrival.
The framework is expected by first ministers in September. Based on these priority occupations, the work would unfold in the following year.
:
Thank you, Mr. Vellacott.
If you don't mind, I would like to ask two questions. The first one has to do with pilot project no. 14. For those who are able to participate in the pilot project, you are introducing the concept of long-tenured workers. In order to identify such workers, you have set a number of criteria, including the amount of time worked, the period of time on Employment Insurance, and contributions to EI, all of which has allowed us to realize that there are constraints here that exclude a great many people and that seem, at first glance—you tell me if I am mistaken—to be highly discriminatory towards people who do not have regular jobs. In fact, even people who do have regular jobs might have trouble qualifying before working for five years. In addition, this is a temporary measure.
I would be interested in hearing your comments. Why did you introduce a measure that excludes a large proportion of laid-off workers who could otherwise access it? That is the first part of my question.
In another connection, I am told that, as regards cost-shared work—usually called work sharing—the federal contribution to benefits is not being received in many cases. That means that there are work sharing programs where people are not being paid. I imagine they will at some point, but why all this delay? Is there a problem?
Those are my two questions.