Short answer? Okay.
I've heard a lot of that—that the single biggest barrier has been when the unemployed worker says, “I can't afford to work for you. I'd have to do it for free.” That's why we made the changes to the working while on claim, to allow people to keep 50% of what they make above and beyond their EI.
I was speaking with a fellow recently who owned several hotels. He couldn't get people from his seasonal hotels to do the same job in his winter hotels, because they were on EI and it would have cost them money to go to work. He said he was delighted we were bringing the changes in. Now he'll be able to get the help he needs without the extra expense of temporary foreign workers.