Question Period Note: EMPLOYMENT INSURANCE AND WORKERS IN SEASONAL EMPLOYMENT

How is the Government of Canada supporting workers in seasonal employment?

Seasonal workers are an important part of Canada’s economy and many of them rely on Employment Insurance (EI) for the support they need between work seasons.

In August 2018, we introduced temporary rules to provide up to five additional weeks of EI regular benefits to eligible seasonal workers in targeted regions.

Budget 2023 extended this important support for seasonal workers from October 2023 to October 2024.

The recent anomalies in regional unemployment rates have meant that many seasonal workers risk experiencing a longer income gap this year. In response to this year's specific and atypical economic circumstance, the 2023 Fall Economic Statement proposes up to four additional weeks of EI regular benefits to eligible seasonal workers in the 13 regions targeted by the existing support.

While this support is temporary, the Government is committed to modernizing the EI program, including finding a permanent approach to support seasonal industries and their workforce.

The issue of seasonal workers experiencing an income gap or “trou noir” is not a new phenomenon.

The trou noir represents the period when some workers in seasonal employment have exhausted their Employment Insurance (EI) benefits but continue to wait to be called back in for their seasonal job and are unable to find other employment. In other words, these claimants do not receive either employment income or EI benefits during this period.

As EI benefits may vary from year to year in each region, this can cause disruption for workers whose main jobs are seasonal. When the unemployment rate decreases, claimants need more hours of insurable employment to qualify for EI and are eligible for fewer weeks of benefits.

In 2018, a pilot project was introduced to provide up to five additional weeks of EI regular benefits (up to a maximum of 45 weeks of entitlement) to eligible seasonal claimants in 13 targeted EI regions.

Through Budget 2021, the Government made legislative changes to the Employment Insurance Act to replicate the rules of the seasonal pilot project as a temporary measure until October 2022. Budget 2022 further extended the temporary measure until October 2023. Most recently, Budget 2023 extended these temporary rules for an additional year, until October 2024; the cost of this support is estimated at $147 million over three years, starting in 2023-24, which will benefit 62,000 seasonal workers.

This measure provides up to five additional weeks of EI regular benefits to seasonal claimants in the 13 regions of Atlantic Canada, Quebec and Yukon originally targeted in the pilot project:

Newfoundland and Labrador (excludes St. John’s)

Eastern Nova Scotia

Western Nova Scotia

Prince Edward Island (excludes Charlottetown)

Charlottetown

Madawaska–Charlotte

Restigouche–Albert

Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine

Lower Saint Lawrence and North Shore

Central Québec

Chicoutimi–Jonquière

North Western Québec

Yukon (excludes Whitehorse)

In order to be eligible for the additional weeks of EI regular benefits, claimants must:

Meet all of the eligibility conditions for EI regular benefits;

Demonstrate a seasonal claiming pattern;

Reside in one of the 13 targeted EI economic regions; and

Establish a benefit period between September 26, 2021 and October 26, 2024.

The legislative fix introduced in 2022 that ensures claimants whose seasonal claim pattern was disrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but who meet the other eligibility conditions, are able to continue to access up to five additional weeks of EI regular benefits will continue to apply for the duration of the extension to October 2024.

The recent anomalies in regional unemployment rates has meant that many seasonal workers risk experiencing a longer income gap this year. In response to this year's specific and atypical economic circumstance, the 2023 Fall Economic Statement proposes up to four additional weeks of EI regular benefits to eligible seasonal workers in 13 economic regions. This temporarily enhanced support would be available for claims established between September 10, 2023, to September 7, 2024, and is expected to support 42,000 seasonal claimants.

Eligibility for EI fishing benefits is based on insurable earnings from fishing, not insurable hours. To receive these benefits, self-employed fishers must be unable to qualify for EI regular benefits and have between $2,500 and $4,200 in earnings from fishing in the qualifying period, as determined by the unemployment rate in the EI region where the claimant resides. For example, in the EI region of Newfoundland and Labrador, the decline in unemployment rate from 13.7% to 12.0% meant an increase in the minimum earnings from fishing required to qualify from $2,500 to $2,900. However, the average amount of fishing earnings used to establish a claim in this region varied between $13,000 and $15,400 between 2017 and 2023, with very few qualifying with less than $2,900 in earnings. The maximum number of weeks per season (summer or winter) of EI fishing benefits payable to self-employed fishers who qualify to receive them is 26. The number of weeks is not affected by the unemployment rate. As a result, the recent declines in unemployment rates are expected to have negligible impacts on EI fishing claimants’ access to and duration of benefits.

“Seasonal work should not be punished due to the nature of the work, we need to acknowledge all seasonal workers and support them.” – soumission écrite d’une organisation, Moderniser le régime d’assurance-emploi du Canada : Consultations, phase 2