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This section presents some evidence about the new and re-entrants (NERE) experience of the Unemployment Insurance (UI) versus Employment Insurance (EI) system, compared to regular benefits recipients. First, for those receiving benefits based on claims filed within 5 weeks of the sample separation job, how do weeks of entitlement compare for NERE versus non-NERE recipients (keeping in mind that NEREs are much less likely to be entitled to any benefits)? For those NEREs who qualify for benefits (and recall that for a NERE to qualify for benefits, they must satisfy a more rigorous condition than other claimants), average weeks of entitlement are about 3 weeks less than those of non-NEREs (32.5 versus 35.6 weeks in the post January 1997 period — see Table 9). It is clear from the distribution figures presented that NEREs are more likely than non-NEREs to have entitlements of 14 to 25 weeks, or 26 to 35 weeks. NEREs are less likely to have entitlements of 36 to 45 weeks. Notice also that for both NEREs and non-NEREs, entitlements are necessarily less than 45 weeks in the EI period, given that the maximum duration of benefits has been reduced.

Table 10 considers how claims are likely to end for NERE versus non-NERE claimants. ¹⁶ NERE claimants are more likely to exhaust their benefits than non-NEREs (38.1 percent versus 31.4 percent in the post-1997 period). Non-NEREs are more likely to have their claims terminated at 52-week duration (i.e., benefit period ends before entitlement exhausted). The probability of a claim lapsing before benefits are exhausted (in most cases presumably because the individual has found a new job) is about the same for both groups (after January 1997).

Finally, Table 11 reports that NERE UI/EI recipients receive lower average weekly benefits than non-NEREs, not surprisingly since NEREs have lower wages. After January 1997, the average NERE EI benefit is 82.2 percent of the average weekly non-NERE benefit ($236 versus $287). Young NERE recipients have even lower average weekly benefits, at $176.

Footnotes

16	This obviously means we are now looking only at claims which are not still in progress, and we have not attempted to determine whether this differs between NEREs and non-NEREs.