Transcript Judith Andrew - the Fisheries Council of Canada

Connecting Canadians with Available Jobs
--a multi-pronged plan
by Judith Andrew, EI Commissioner (Employers)
Presentation to the Fisheries Council of Canada
Fredericton, New Brunswick
October 8, 2014
Agenda
1. Mandate of the Canada Employment Insurance Commission (CEIC)
2. Labour Market Context
3. Connecting Canadians with Available Jobs (CCAJ)
a. Labour Market Information
b. Strengthening Claimant Obligations
c. Ensuring Canadians are considered before TFWs
4. Other EI Developments
5. EI Financing
6. Re-tooling Training Agreements
Web links
Appendix--data on Fishing Benefits
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1. Mandate of the Canada Employment Insurance Commission
(CEIC)
 CEIC is a tri-partite organization responsible for oversight of the EI program.
(Service Canada and ESDC administer the EI program on behalf of the
Commission)
 Commission makes Regulations, with the approval of the Governor in Council
 CEIC reviews and approves policies related to EI program administration and
delivery
 CEIC holds a legislated mandate to annually monitor and assess the EI
program, including employment benefits and support measures ( transfers to
provinces for training, etc.), This EI Monitoring and Assessment Report is
delivered to the Minister by fiscal year end, for tabling in Parliament
 CEIC leads a research agenda in support of the annual EI Monitoring and
Assessment Report
 CEIC plays a role in financial transparency of the system and in rate setting
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2. Context –Job vacancies highest in science and skills
Source: Jobs Report: The State of the Canadian Labour Market,
Department of Finance, Government of Canada, 2014
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2. Context- Demographics worsening labour/skill shortages
Source: Jobs Report: The State of the Canadian Labour Market, Department of Finance, Government of Canada, 2014
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2. Context –Underrepresented groups present opportunity
Source: Jobs Report: The State of the Canadian Labour Market, Department of Finance, Government of Canada, 2014
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2. Context – Enrollments growing, esp. in applied fields
Source: Jobs Report: The State of the Canadian Labour Market, Department of Finance,
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3. Connecting Canadians with Available Jobs (CCAJ)
 Budget 2012 set out three key Initiatives to match
unemployed Canadians with job vacancies:
A. Enhancing labour market information, including new
enhanced Job Alerts.
B. Strengthening EI claimants’ obligations by defining
reasonable job search and suitable employment.
C. Ensuring Canadians are considered before temporary
foreign workers (TFWs) are hired to fill job vacancies.
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A. CCAJ -Enhanced Labour Market Information (LMI)
 Claimants/job-seekers register their own job search parameters:
skills/occupation; location, etc., using the Job Bank
 Job Alerts--up to two emails per day on available job listings—sent to
registrants from the Job Bank, and newly from private-sector job boards.
 Job seekers have access to labour market information (e.g. expected
pay, future prospects) in current and related occupations and more (e.g.
career navigator, resume builder, safety)
………………………………………………………………………………………
 Employers may advertise openings free of charge at convenience, 24/7
 Employers also have access to human resources info (hiring/training,
etc.), plus links to forms, services, and program information.
 System job matching functionality is being enhanced significantly
IMPROVING LMI IS A MAJOR CURRENT THRUST
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B. CCAJ- Strengthening Claimant Obligations – Job Search
 EI claimants have always been required to search for work
while on claim.
 CCAJ changes “clarified” job search requirements:
1. Job search activities
• e.g. preparing resume, searching, applying, interviews, etc.
2. Intensity of search
• Daily unless this would be unreasonable
3.Evidence of job search efforts
• Claimants must keep records and submit upon request
4. Type of work sought
• Consistent with definition of suitable employment
• Suitable employment is defined in relation to six criteria
• Two of the six—type of work and wage-- vary with
claimant’s EI history and time spent on claim (chart)
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B. CCAJ -Strengthening Obligations – Suitable Employment
Work that claimants are required to seek and accept
Similar occ., 80%
of prev. earnings
Claimant groups
Long-tenured Same occupation, 90% of previous earnings
workers
Occasional
Same occupation
90% of previous earnings
Similar occupation, 80% of previous earnings
Frequent
Similar occupation
80% of previous earnings
Any work that the claimant is qualified to perform (with on-the-job
training if required), 70% of previous earnings
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Any work, 70%
of prev. earnings
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 +
EI Claim Duration including waiting period (weeks)
* Earnings cannot be lower than the minimum wage effective in the province or territory where employment is being sought
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C. Consider Canadians before Temporary Foreign Workers
 Composition of TFW entries prior to recent changes
Spouses of
TFWs
6%
P/T
Agreements
2%
Other LMOexempt
12%
Labour
Market
Opinion
38%
Intracompany
Transferees
7%
Free Trade
8%
International
Experience
Canada
28%
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C- Consider Canadians before Temporary Foreign Worker
 Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP)
TFWP has been reorganized to cover the stream of foreign workers entering Canada at
employers’ request. Such workers must be covered by positive Labour Market Impact
Assessments (LMIAs more rigourous than LMOs they replaced)
Key changes include:
 Limiting access to the TFWP to ensure Canadians are first in line for available jobs
 More and better labour market information for more rigourous screening
 Stronger enforcement and tougher penalties
 Fee increased to $1,000 per foreign worker requested
Note:
Wage levels will now replace National Occupational Classification as the main criteria for
administering the TFWP
Criteria include a cap on the percentage of TFWs and transition (to Canadian workforce) plans
Upshot:
Employers seeking to bring in low-wage, low-skilled temporary foreign workers in areas of high
unemployment will have much more difficulty justifying their applications.
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C. Consider Canadians before Temporary Foreign Worker
Provincial Nominee Program (PNP)
• Immigrants are nominated by a provincial or territorial government
based on regional needs, including those of employers, as well as the
nominees’ ability to economically establish themselves.
• Nominees fall under a two categories:
 Skilled Immigrants
 Business Immigrants (entrepreneurs, special projects, etc.)
• An employer may find the PNP to be useful if wanting to:
 hire a foreign worker from outside of Canada;
 retain TFW who is already on staff, or
 hire an international student who has recently graduated from a Canadian
post-secondary institution.
•
Note: Each jurisdiction has a cap on allowable provincial nominees
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C. Immigration Canada’s Express Entry
Key change objectives:
 Improve application management, picking the best, rather than the first
candidates in line, while achieving efficiencies and preventing
application backlogs
 Make the system more responsive to the labour market by
emphasising candidates matched to employers’ skill needs (in addition
to “human capital” considerations)
 Strengthen the provincial/territorial and employer role with this
resource for tapping quality immigrant candidates
 Improve economic outcomes, so that only immigrant candidates with
strong success indicators –according to a comprehensive ranking
system--are invited to apply
Note: Candidates with valid job offers or provincial/territorial
nominations will enjoy an automatic and guaranteed Invitation to
Apply for permanent residence.
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4. Other EI Developments
Working While on Claim (WWC) Pilot Project
 The objective of the pilot project is to help EI claimants stay connected with
the labour market by encouraging them to accept work while receiving EI
 Beginning August 5, 2012, EI Claimants may keep 50% of their EI benefits for
every dollar earned while on claim, up to 90% of the weekly insurable
earnings used to calculate the EI benefit amount
 Under the previous rules, claimants could earn $75 or 40% of their weekly
benefits without seeing their EI reduced. Any earnings above that threshold
reduced their benefits dollar for dollar.
 Some claimants were adversely affected by the change in the pilot project
design where little work was available. To assist them, the government
announced they could revert to the previous rules under specific
circumstances.
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4. Other EI Developments
Variable Best Weeks
 Effective April 7, 2013, EI benefits are calculated using the highest weeks of
earnings over the last year. The number of weeks used ranges from 14 to 22,
geared to the unemployment rate in the particular EI region.
For example:
In regions of high unemployment (more than 13%), the benefit rate is based on
the best 14 weeks of earnings over the past 52 weeks
In regions with the lowest unemployment (less than 6%), the benefit rate is
based on the best 22 weeks of the past 52 weeks
 This permanent national approach is intended to make EI more responsive to
changes in local economic conditions and to ensure that those living in similar
labour market conditions receive similar benefits
 The Variable Best Weeks approach does not apply to self-employed or fishers
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4. Other EI Developments
Access to Sickness Benefits while on Parental Benefits
 Effective March 24, 2013, claimants receiving parental benefits no
longer have to be available for work to receive sickness benefits and
have their benefit period extended by up to 15 weeks.
New Benefit for Parents of Critically ill/injured Children (PCIC)
 Effective June 9, 2013, up to 35 weeks of PCIC benefits are available
to eligible EI insured workers and to self-employed individuals, who
have contributed to EI. The benefit weeks may be shared among
eligible parents who are unable to work while providing care or support
to one or more children under the age of 18 with a life-threatening
illness or injury.
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4. Other EI Developments
Changes to EI economic regions
Changes were made to the EI economic regions in P.E.I. and in all three
territories. The capital areas of these jurisdictions are now treated as distinct for
the purpose of determining EI eligibility and benefits.
Responsibility for EI Rate-setting
Effective March 7, 2013, the Canada Employment Insurance Financing Board Act
was suspended and the CEIFB was dissolved. In 2013, legislation was passed to
make the CEIC responsible for setting the EI premium rate, beginning with the
2017 premium rate. (The CEIC continues to set the annual maximum insurable
earnings). During the interim period until the seven-year rate-setting mechanism
takes effect, the Governor-in-Council first set and the Government later legislated
the EI premium rate.
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4. Other EI Developments
 ROE web
• Recent Improvements:
 Online registration is allowed, and has been improved
 ROE user guides have been updated
 Web assistant (a.k.a.Wizard) assists with help and automated features
• Key Benefits:
 Increases productivity and saves time
 Reduces paper burden and provides filing flexibility
 Improves the speed and accuracy of reporting and therefore adjudication
• Proposed Future Direction
 More options for interactive feedback and assistance
 Integration of Assistant Functionalities within the Online Form
 Interface Improvements (Navigation, Help, and Guidance Automation)
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4. Other EI Developments
E-Payroll
Reporting requirements for payroll-related information was identified as a major
irritant in the Red Tape Reduction Commission Report.
•
e-Payroll raises the possibility of the GoC and businesses sharing the existing
flow of electronic payroll information.
•
It focuses on collecting the information needed by government once through
regular periodic transmission of earnings data that aligns with employer payroll
data and cycles, rather than several times, in several different formats with
duplicated data.
•
Early discussions with various players, including associations such as FCC,
show potential benefits of e-payroll, such as reduced burden for employers,
citizens and government, as well as improving EI program integrity.
• Proof of Concept (Research phase) started in June 2014 and will end
November 2014.
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5. EI Financing
 Government Commitment to Hold EI Premium
Rates for 3 years at 2013 Level
!
Source: ESDC
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5. EI Financing
 EI Premium Rates Over Time
Source: 2014 Federal Budget Papers
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5. New Small Business Job Credit
• Announced September 11, 2014, the new Small Business Job Credit is expected to save
90% of all EI premium-paying businesses in Canada more than $550 million (almost
15% EI payroll tax relief) over the next two years
• Since employers pay 1.4 times what employees pay, this 28-cent reduction in the
legislated rate is equivalent to a reduction of 39 cents per $100 of insurable earnings in
EI premiums paid by small employers
• The Canada Revenue Agency will automatically calculate the credit on a business’
return, ensuring no new red tape/paper burden is imposed
• All employers are to benefit from a substantial reduction in the EI premium rate in 2017,
when the seven-year break-even rate-setting mechanism takes effect. The objective is to
ensure that EI premiums are no higher than needed to pay for the EI program over time
Planned EI rates (per $100 in insurable earnings) 2014 2015-16 2017
Employee rate
$1.88 $1.88 $1.47
Effective rate incl. Small Business Job Credit
$2.63 $2.24 $2.06
General employer rate
$2.63 $2.63 $2.06
• This new credit came as welcome news, since the previous Hiring Credit for Small
Business was not renewed, nor mentioned in Budget 2014
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6. Re-tooling Training Agreements
Under the Canada Job Fund (CJF) agreements, provinces/territories (P/Ts) design and
deliver programs to meet local labour market needs (i.e. involving employers) along
three main funding streams:
STREAM 1:
Canada Job Grant
STREAM 2:
Employer Sponsored
Training
STREAM 3:
Employment Services &
Supports
• (i) Employer decides who gets training and what type; (ii) employer has a
job available at end of training; (iii) employer financially contributes to
training; (iv) training is provided by an eligible third party trainer
• Maximum GoC investment of $10,000 with employers required to
contribute, on average 1/3 for direct training costs with flexibility for small
businesses
• (i) Employers decide individuals to be trained & type of training; (ii)
training leads to jobs; (iii) employers make contribution toward the training
(financial or in kind)
• P/Ts are required to invest 40% of their annual CJF allocation to
employer-sponsored training
• Programs to assist unemployed & low-skilled employed such as:
counselling; job search assistance; wage subsidies; on-the-job training;
entrepreneurial development; & literacy, basic skills development
interventions (similar to programs funded under LMAs)
• P/Ts can invest a maximum of 60% of their annual CJF to Employment
Support Services
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6. Re-Tooling Training Agreements
Labour Market Development Agreements (LMDAs) under review
 The Government of Canada has signaled to the provinces/territories that it
intends to re-tool LMDAs—agreements on the transfer of some $2 billion of EI
payroll taxes to provinces and territories (P/Ts) for employment benefits and
support measures.
 The Minister, his Parliamentary Secretary, and a Parliamentary Committee
(HUMA) have conducted consultations with employer and employee
stakeholders who foot the bill for LMDAs through their EI premiums, as well as
with other interested groups. Commissioners have also been reaching out to
their stakeholders.
 Key themes are emerging: achieving greater employer engagement, reaching
more people and sooner, strengthening program accountability and
effectiveness and focusing EI funds on the most successful programs and
services
 Input is welcome!
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Questions?
Temporary Foreign Worker Program
http://www.esdc.gc.ca/eng/jobs/foreign_workers/index.shtml
Immigration Canada’s Express Entry
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/express-entry.asp
Job Bank and Working in Canada
http://www.jobbank.gc.ca/intro-eng.aspx
EI Changes
http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/sc/ei/ccaj/vignettes.shtml
E-ROE (incl. online registration for Records of Employment)
http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/services/ei/employers/roe/web/index.shtml
Canada Job Grant
http://www.esdc.gc.ca/eng/jobs/training_agreements/cjf/index.shtml
Canada Employment Insurance Commission:
http://www.esdc.gc.ca/eng/jobs/ei/commission/index.shtml
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Judith Andrew, Commissioner (Employers) [email protected]
Appendix
EI Fishing Benefits
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EI Fishing Benefits Compared
• In 2012/13, the number of new fishing claims decreased by 4.1%, to
28,290 new claims (see Chart 33). Along with a decrease in the
number of fishing claims, fishing benefits paid to self-employed fishers
fell by 2.5% (-6.4 million) in 2012/13
• The average weekly fishing benefit increased by 2.9%, from $439 in
2011/12 to $452 in 2012/13. With this increase, the average weekly
benefit for fishing claims was $57 higher than that for regular claims
($395).
• The proportion of fishing claimants who received the maximum weekly
benefit increased from 78.1% in 2011/12 to 78.8% in 2012/13. This
proportion is much higher than the proportion of regular claimants who
received the maximum weekly benefit (41.6% in 2012/13).
• In 2012/13, EI fishing benefits comprised 1.7% of total EI income
benefits, the same proportion as in previous year.
Source: CEIC, Monitoring and Assessment Report 2012/13
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EI Fishing Benefits
 EI Fishing Claims and Benefits
Source: CEIC, Monitoring and Assessment Report 2012/13
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