In most industrialized countries, the longer the period of unemployment, the more difficult it is to re-enter the labour market.[119] This relationship between the length of unemployment and the likelihood of returning to work indicates that the federal, provincial and territorial governments could improve the chances for EI recipients to get back to work by providing them with prompt training or employment assistance services.

Several witnesses told the Committee how important it is to act more quickly in order to help EI recipients find good jobs before their skills become outdated.

Frank Vermaeten, Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, ESDC, stated that provincial training programs for EI recipients currently operate on a “first come, first served basis.”[120] According to Mr. Vermaeten, this reactive approach poses problems because recipients often wait until their benefits have almost run out before seeking training or other employment assistance services at the provincial or territorial office.[121]

The fact that job seekers and employers are unaware of provincial and territorial training and employment assistance programs may be one of the reasons why most recipients usually wait too long before seeking out the services available to them.

Some [people] are not taking advantage of it because they just don't have the information. It's another one of our issues that we really see when we talk to people about LMDAs; they don't know that the money's there. They don't know it exists. Employers don't know about it. Employees don't know about it.[122]

Mary-Lou Donnelly
Canada Employment Insurance Commission

To address this problem, the Hon. Jason Kenney, ESDC Minister, stated that the federal government is considering reforms that would enable the provinces and territories to reach out to EI recipients as soon as possible.

When people are unemployed for a long time, often they get a little bit depressed and discouraged. Their skills perhaps begin to get dated. They fall farther away from the labour market. You want to get in there as soon as you can with people. We want to encourage provinces to not necessarily just serve whoever walks through the door first, but proactively to reach out to the people who have been recently unemployed. Get them into a program, whether that means upscaling, retraining, or job link services. Get them in as soon as they can.[123]

The Hon. Jason Kenney
ESDC

The Hon. Jason Kenney also suggested improving communication and coordination between the federal government and the provinces and territories. Ideally, the federal government should develop systems to inform the relevant provincial/territorial departments as soon as a person applies for employment insurance so that the Department can reach out immediately and offer services.[124] By being proactive, the provinces and territories could help EI recipients find new jobs more quickly while generating savings to the EI account. The federal government has been working with British Columbia and Manitoba since 2013–2014 to provide EI recipients with employment assistance earlier in their eligibility period.[125]

Mr. Vermaeten informed Committee members of three initiatives administered by ESDC to help the provinces and territories reach out to EI recipients more quickly. The first is a referral system for exchanging secure data on new EI recipients with the provinces and territories.

[The system] is going to enable us to send data, including someone's profile, to provinces and territories when somebody becomes unemployed. The province is going to be able to take that information and—let's say they have 12 individuals who have just lost their job, who are collecting EI, who are in the trades, and who are highly skilled—immediately match it with their database of the kinds of jobs or effective training that is available and to assess where the best bang for the buck is. Then they'll know who they should train, who they should provide labour market information to, and who they should set aside. That referral system is going to be really important to allow provinces and territories to do that.[126]

Frank Vermaeten
ESDC

The second initiative involves improving the current job alerts system so that individuals who are looking for a job, whether they are receiving EI or not, can register to receive alerts listing the available jobs that match their skills. Employers who register with job banks such as Workopolis would also receive alerts about people who have the type of skills they are looking for.[127]

The third initiative is a job-matching system that would pair a job seeker with an employer looking for someone with that person’s skills. This system, which is at the development stage, would lead to more effective skill-matching between employers and people looking for work.[128]

Judith Andrew, Commissioner for Employers, Canada Employment Insurance Commission, informed Committee members that employers are ready to support the federal government’s efforts to reach out to EI-eligible unemployed Canadians sooner so that they can access training programs more quickly and meet the needs of the labour market.[129]

Other witnesses advocated an even more proactive approach that would give workers access to training through the EI program even before they lost their jobs.

[I]f you are working in a job and you know there are going to be changes, you'll have access to an EI training fund, even though you are currently employed. So for example, maybe I'm working in a hospital, and I know there are going to be changes. I want to work in dietary instead of the job that I'm in now. That worker who's contributing to the EI fund should have access to training so that they can be ready for the next job.[130]

Barbara Byers
Canadian Labour Congress

Canada needs to better develop the system of supports available to Canadians to upgrade their skills later in life, and preferably before they become unemployed.[131]

Tyler Meredith
Institute for Research on Public Policy

Jeffery Cyr, Executive Director, National Association of Friendship Centres, stated that these centres generally try to develop an ongoing relationship with their clients, who are often less likely to apply for EI services due to problems with addiction, homelessness and low education levels. This relationship enables the centres to target Aboriginal people who could benefit from early intervention and quicker access to training or employment assistance measures.[132]

In general, witnesses emphasized the need to reach out to EI recipients more promptly in order to help them find good jobs as soon as possible. They suggested that the provinces and territories take a more proactive approach to training and employment assistance, and that the federal government support this approach by improving information sharing and coordination between the EI program and the training and employment assistance programs administered by the provinces and territories.

RECOMMENDATION 12

The Committee recommends that the federal government in collaboration with the provinces and territories improve information sharing and coordination between the Employment Insurance program and the provincial and territorial training and employment assistance programs, with the aim to get workers back to work faster.

Ms. Donnelly, Commissioner for Workers, Canada Employment Insurance Commission, told the Committee about the concerns expressed by some young EI recipients who have had trouble enrolling in training that would improve their chances in the job market. The provincial and territorial rules are very complicated, and young people do not know how to get the training approved by the province or territory.

I know I've had many young people present their case to me where they thought that they heard that they could get this money and go take this training. So they've done that, but the piece that they didn't do was that they didn't get approval from the province. So they find themselves in a situation where they want to go and have this training and they've enrolled, but there is no support for them because it must be approved by the province.

Those rules and regulations from province to province, territory to territory, are different. So that's one of the reasons why we need to better inform people of the LMDAs and what to do, how to access it, things like that.[133]

Mary-Lou Donnelly
Canada Employment Insurance Commission

RECOMMENDATION 13

The Committee recommends that the federal government in collaboration with the provinces and territories ensure that the new Labour Market Development Agreements offer Employment Insurance recipients greater flexibility so that they can select the training programs most likely to help them secure available jobs, including jobs available outside their province or territory of residence.