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The COEP survey is the key data source used to evaluate the impact of EI reforms.³ The COEP survey, administered on behalf of HRDC by Statistics Canada, collects information on the sampled individual that experienced a job separation as recorded on HRDC’s Record of Employment (ROE) administrative database. The survey collects information on an individual’s personal and household characteristics, reasons for job separation, detailed employment history, job search activities, training, receipt of EI/UI benefits, social assistance, as well as information on their household’s financial situation including assets and liabilities.

Each survey participant was interviewed twice. The first interview (wave 1) occurred within one year after job separation and the second interview (wave 2) was conducted about nine months after the first interview. In total, approximately 40,000 Canadians who had a change or an interruption in their employment activity were surveyed from July 1996 until September 1998, covering 10 quarters. Each quarter is referred to as a “Cohort”. For example, the COEP data for the period from October 1997 to December 1997 is referred to as Cohort 10. In studying the impact of the reform, cohorts are grouped into three periods as follows:

Pre-Reform (Cohort1 to Cohort 4). Participants for the first four interviews had a job separation in one of the four quarters (i.e., Q3 1995 to Q2 1996) prior to EI implementation.

During Reform (Cohort 5 & Cohort 6). Participants for the next two interviews had a job separation in one of the two quarters (i.e., Q3 1996 and Q4 1996) during implementation of the EI reform.

Post-Reform (Cohort 7 to Cohort 10). Participants for the last four interviews had a job separation in one of the four quarters (i.e., Q1 1997 to Q4 1997) after implementation of the EI reform.

This study also used information from the Status Vector to construct an account of the sampled individuals claim history. This was used to identify individuals that fit the definition of a gapper.

For the purposes of this study, the pre-EI reform period is compared to the post-EI reform period as a means of determining the changes associated with EI reform. No analysis was done on the period during the EI reform period, as the implementation of EI reform was not complete and the analysis of this period would be complex.

The report uses two approaches to examine the gapper issue. The first section will examine the basic characteristics of gappers over the period from July 1995 to December 1997 (cohorts 1 to 10) and the changes that occurred after EI reform.⁴ The immediate impact of EI reform will be studied by comparing gappers that experienced a job separation from July 1995 to June 1996 (cohorts 1 to 4) with those who experienced a job separation from January 1997 to December 1997 (cohorts 7 to 10). The last portion of the report will consider the year over year changes that have occurred in the gapper population from fiscal year 1998-1999 to fiscal year 1999-2000.

Footnotes

3	Statistics Canada refers to this survey as the “Changes in Employment Survey”(CIE).
4	It will exclude data from July 1996 to December 1996 (cohorts 5 and 6) because EI reform was being implemented during this period.