Tag: Employment Insurance

An Employment Insurance system for the 21st century: Lesson 2, The future of work calls for better income insurance

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This is the second commentary in a three-part series examining ideas for reforming Canada’s Employment Insurance (EI) program. This commentary discusses the need for the EI program to provide comprehensive insurance against various forms of income loss. The First commentary, on the need for EI to be better designed to insure against big shocks, can be found here. Read this articleAn Employment Insurance system for the 21st century: Lesson 2, The future of work calls for better income insurance→

An Employment Insurance system for the 21st century: Lesson 1, Big shocks matter

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This is the first commentary in a three-part series examining ideas for reforming Canada’s Employment Insurance (EI) program. This commentary argues that the program as presently constituted is not well-designed to provide adequate support for households that suffer large and enduring negative income shocks. Read this articleAn Employment Insurance system for the 21st century: Lesson 1, Big shocks matter→

The Canada Recovery Benefit: Employment Insurance or Basic Income Guarantee?

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The Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB) is a bold step in the delivery of pandemic-related aid to self-employed and gig workers, who are poorly served by Employment Insurance. Advocates of reform to Canada’s income transfer system will find much to like about the CRB, and some may wish to make the program, or something like it, a permanent feature of Canada’s social safety net. However, there are likely to be substantial enforcement and implementation issues with the program, as well as problems around fairness. As currently designed, the CRB is not a good template for a guaranteed basic income for Canada. Read this articleThe Canada Recovery Benefit: Employment Insurance or Basic Income Guarantee?→