Human Resources Committee on Oct. 6th, 2009

[Paul Thompson]

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.

[Josée Beaudin, Bloc, Saint-Lambert, QC]

How many unemployed people does this represent in Canada? I would like to know the number.

[Louis Beauséjour]

We do not necessarily use the number of unemployed people. We take into account the number of beneficiaries who—

[Josée Beaudin, Bloc, Saint-Lambert, QC]

My question is not about the measures you are proposing. I want to know how many unemployed people there are at this time in Canada.

[Louis Beauséjour]

Currently, 1.6 million people are unemployed.

[Josée Beaudin, Bloc, Saint-Lambert, QC]

Today you said that 190,000 people could take advantage of these measures.

When I look at the situation in my riding—and I imagine that it is the case in the ridings of all my colleagues present here—I note that many people are not affected, given that there might be up to 1,400,000 people. People will wonder what kind of program will be offered. In many cases, in fact, we have to do with women in very precarious positions and also with many young people. In many cases, women will become welfare recipients in the provinces instead of taking advantage of help from employment insurance.

Therefore, let me repeat the request that we made at our last meeting and that my colleague made just a moment ago. You have confirmed that we could have a written copy of the calculations you made to obtain the figure of 190,000 workers who could potentially take advantage of these measures. You can tell us about how many people are currently unemployed, your estimation of the number of long-tenured workers and of those who might exhaust their benefits. Could you give us these calculations in writing?

[Paul Thompson]

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

[Josée Beaudin, Bloc, Saint-Lambert, QC]

Very well then we can get the figures fairly quickly.

Earlier, you said that you had statistics regarding long-tenured workers divided by regions. Could we also get those numbers in writing? When you answered my colleague opposite, you said that you had statistics on long-tenured workers, region by region.

[Paul Thompson]

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.

[Josée Beaudin, Bloc, Saint-Lambert, QC]

All right.

Once again, I want to be sure that I understand. All the workers who have filed an employment insurance claim since January 4, 2009 are likely to meet the criteria. They must have filed their employment insurance claims on or before January 4, 2009. Am I right?

[Paul Thompson]

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—

[Louis Beauséjour]

The information that we have shows how many people we sent letters to. Thus, we have some information and we can obtain the distribution for this group of people. We began sending out letters which were actually meant to implement the employment transition initiative. In this case, the measures began to apply at the end of January, and not on January 4. We can get the information beginning with the end of January up to the most recent data for August or September.

[Josée Beaudin, Bloc, Saint-Lambert, QC]

Thus, all the workers who are in a precarious position, many women, are in this situation. At least, this is the case in my riding, I am sure that there are currently such people in every riding. In fact, there are about 1,300,000 unemployed people to whom nothing is being offered. They will end up as welfare recipients in the provinces.

A report just came out today that shows that many young people are in a precarious position after having gained little advantage from summer employment. All these people who are in precarious positions, those who are less privileged and even those workers who may have accumulated 40 weeks, as compared to those who have accumulated 30 weeks, do not meet the criteria.

Why did you not propose universal measures?

[Paul Thompson]

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.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Thank you.

Ms. Minna.

[Maria Minna, Liberal, Beaches—East York, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

In July 2009 there were about 787,700 persons receiving regular benefits, and nearly 1,583,000 were unemployed. So people receiving benefits were 50% of the unemployed. You just said that this measure is to assist people who have particular difficulties. In my riding, I have a lot of new immigrants. Some of them will have been working for nine straight years. You're saying they need seven out of 10, so they would not qualify under this program. Your minimum is 10 years, right?

[Louis Beauséjour]

It's a minimum of seven.

[Maria Minna, Liberal, Beaches—East York, ON]

Seven years is your minimum?

[Louis Beauséjour]

Seven years of contribution.

[Maria Minna, Liberal, Beaches—East York, ON]

What's the minimum?

[Paul Thompson]

And those seven years can take place over 10 years.

[Maria Minna, Liberal, Beaches—East York, ON]

So if you've worked six years you don't qualify.

[Paul Thompson]

That's correct.

[Maria Minna, Liberal, Beaches—East York, ON]

So if you work six years straight and you've lost your job through no fault of your own and you can't pay your rent, you don't qualify.

[Paul Thompson]

People who have worked six years would continue to receive the five weeks under the EAP and—