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Changes under EI reform, including changes to eligibility and length of entitlement, raise questions about whether or not more EI recipients are exhausting their claims faster and turning to social assistance. Therefore, this monitoring report examines the following:

• the exhaustion of benefits before and after EI reform; and
• the take-up of social assistance before and after EI reform by UI/EI claimants and those who did not claim UI/EI.

Data and Methodology

The Canadian Out-of-Employment Panel (COEP) survey, used in conjunction with the administrative file, provides important information on EI benefits collection, social assistance receipt, and other personal, financial, and employment-related information. These data are used to compare the claim exhaustion rates (CER) and the social assistance take-up rates before and after EI reform.

Main Findings

The results from probit analysis showed that, other things being equal, the probability of exhausting a UI/EI claim is lower after EI reform for seasonal employees, and temporary workers, when compared to permanent workers.

The analysis of social assistance take-up rates showed that there is a decrease both for exhaustees and non-exhaustees among UI/EI claimants after EI reform. Moreover, it is found that 75 per cent of exhaustees who do not collect social assistance have access to other resources (liquid assets, house, or other family income).

Further regression analysis confirmed that after EI reform, social assistance take-up rate of exhaustees did decrease for single parents who do not live with other members in the household.

Overall, it can be concluded that social assistance is mainly a longer-term coping mechanism for most job separators, including exhaustees, as take-up rates increase considerably with weeks of unemployment. There is little indication that EI reform resulted in lower social assistance take-up.