HALIFAX—As unemployment rates soar, Canada’s Employment Insurance (EI) program automatically becomes much more generous and accessible, which will add to Ottawa’s financial pressures and risks increasing long-term unemployment, finds a new study by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank.
“Already, vastly more people qualify for EI and are eligible to receive many more weeks of benefits with fewer hours of work than just a few weeks ago, and we know this increasingly generous coverage can lead to harmful long-term effects in the labour force,” said Fred McMahon, resident fellow at the Fraser Institute and author of Extended Employment Insurance Now Open to All: Atlantic Canada’s Warning for Other Provinces.
