Canadian Labour Congress

Posted: Thursday, 5 March 2009

Introduction

On behalf of the 3.2 million members of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), we want to thank you for affording us the opportunity to present our views. The CLC brings together Canada's national and international unions along with the provincial and territorial federations of labour and 130 district labour councils whose members work in virtually all sectors of the Canadian economy, in all occupations, in all parts of Canada.

Employment Insurance (EI) and Women

EI is a critically important program for Canadian workers, especially in tough times like we face today. Laid off workers obviously need adequate benefits to support themselves and their families while they search for a new job. Unemployment benefits are spent on necessities, not saved, or spent on imports. They are an effective form of economic stimulus and help maintain hard hit community economies.

Compared to when we hit previous recessions, our EI program leaves far too many Canadians, especially women and lower wage, insecure workers, out in the cold. In November 2008, just four in 10 unemployed workers qualified for benefits. The maximum weekly benefit of $447 today is more than 25% less than in 1996, and the average benefit now is just $335. And the program does even worse when we look at how it works for women workers.

Cuts in the mid-1990s affecting who is eligible and the amount of benefits which are paid sharply reduced the supporting role of EI, especially for women.

EI income support during periods of unemployment, maternity/parental leave, and periods of sickness is obviously important in terms of stabilizing and supporting family incomes, and also supports the economic independence of women since benefits are not based on family income (with the exception of a small supplement for low income families), but rather on insured individual earnings.

However, key EI program rules exclude or unfairly penalize women because they fail to take into proper account the different working patterns of women compared to men. While the great majority of adult women now engage in paid work, the hours they work exclude many from EI benefits, as do periods of time spent away from work caring for children or others.

As Monica Townson and Kevin Hayes documented in a study originally conducted for the Status of Women Canada, only 32% of unemployed women qualified for regular EI benefits in recent years compared to 40% of men who were unemployed. Over 70% of women and 80% of men qualified for benefits before the cuts were imposed in the early 1990s. The gender gap in terms of the proportion of unemployed women and men collecting regular benefits has closed a bit, but was still two percentage points in November 2008 (40% vs. 38%). The gap is much bigger when it comes to average benefits. In 2006-07, the average benefit for women was $298 per week compared to $360 for men. Women also qualify for shorter periods on average and, in 2005-06, 30% of women exhausted regular benefits compared to 26% of men. Only about one-third of the total dollar amount of regular EI (unemployment) benefits is paid to women, even though women now participate in the paid workforce at almost the same rate as men.

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