Human Resources committee  The requirement is to have paid a minimum of 30% of the EI premiums for seven of the last 10 years, which allows for up to three years of absence without paying the premiums.

Human Resources committee  The difference between the three years, the difference between the seven and the 10, is intended to accommodate absences from the labour market, including time spent on parental leave, where premiums would not be paid. The period of employment would still be seven years out of the last 10.

Human Resources committee  In coming up with the definition of seven out of 10 years, one of the primary motivations behind that was to allow for absences from the labour market. So that would have been motivated by some gender analysis of how women versus men might access this measure. That's one example, in addition to the exclusion of the use of special benefits.

Human Resources committee  There was analysis done--

Human Resources committee  There was analysis done of the measure in coming up with the analysis that fed into--

Human Resources committee  We have no problem with providing committee members with the methods that my colleagues explained. We can provide them in writing.

Human Resources committee  Yes, along with the figures for management, we have the distribution of long-tenured workers. It's proportional to the labour force that we find in each province. That can be provided in writing as well.

Human Resources committee  The distribution is not made on the basis of a projection of the number of beneficiaries. It is based on current experience from January to—

Human Resources committee  As I explained, the government decided to introduce measures targeting certain persons, certain workers, people who have contributed over a period of several years and who have not collected many weeks of benefits during the five past years. There were other measures taken in the economic action plan with the universal application, such as the five-week benefit extension for a more targeted group of recipients facing particular challenges in the downturn.

Human Resources committee  These two measures are very significant investments in the income support for older workers, whether they need additional time to find a new job--which this measure is intended to do--or whether they are undertaking training. These two EI measures are providing the income support.

Human Resources committee  The estimated number of clients who will benefit from these measures is based on a projection of an 8.8% unemployment rate during the period in question.

Human Resources committee  Regarding the first question, the estimated number of 190,000 workers who will take advantage of these measures cannot be divided by regions or by sectors, because it is based on a projection of the national unemployment rate, and these figures are not available for specific genders, sectors etc.

Human Resources committee  This measure targets full-time workers. This is the objective of the bill, and with regard to full-time workers, we are looking at a proportion of 7 out of 10 in terms of premiums, which means that some of them may have been absent from the labour market for 3 years. Moreover, we are not including the use of special benefits.

Human Resources committee  Certainly. I mentioned briefly the career transition assistance initiative in my opening remarks because that's a fairly significant measure that was introduced in the action plan targeted at the same population that we're dealing with in this legislation. The difference is that the extended benefit was for a longer period of time, but targeted at those people who make the significant decision of undertaking long-term training for up to two years.

Human Resources committee  I would be happy to speak to it. Before I get into certain sectors, maybe I should note again that this isn't a measure that's targeted for particular industry sectors or parts of the country. It is targeted at certain types of workers, but those workers are found across the country.