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The quantitative component of this project uses Human Resources Development Canada’s (HRDC) Canadian Out of Employment Panel (COEP) survey data as well as some HRDC administrative files (e.g., claimant information). The target population for the COEP survey was Canadians aged 15 and over, living in the 10 provinces or the territories, who had a “job separation” or “a break/change in employment” between July 1995 and December 1997 inclusive. Survey participants were selected from the HRDC Record of Employment (ROE) administrative file. Selected individuals were then contacted by telephone, up to 12 months after the separation for which they were selected into the sample.

The COEP survey includes six cohorts of individuals who had an interruption in their employment or a job loss before January 1997⁶ and four cohorts who had an interruption in their employment or a job loss after January 1997. Each cohort is a sample of all individuals with a separation/interruption occurring in a particular quarter (beginning July to September 1995 and ending October to December 1997). The COEP data provides information on the ROE, job characteristics, Unemployment Insurance/Employment Insurance (UI/EI) benefit receipts, demographics, household income and liquid assets.

In general, our analysis focuses on individuals living with their own children less than 18 years old at the time of the survey, rather than at the time of the ROE. We also focus upon regular benefits recipients (e.g., we exclude individuals receiving maternity or sickness benefits).

We classify respondents as pre- or post-1997 observations according to the date of the job separation that led to them being in the COEP survey. However, our analysis of the incidence and level of dependency rate (DR)/family supplement (FS) benefits paid is based on the administrative ROE and claims files. That is, the “sample job”⁷ ROE is flagged in the administrative ROE file. From this, and if the individual made a claim, we determine the date at which a claim pertaining to the “sample job” was filed (i.e., the “benefit period commencement week”). We then analyze benefits received for this claim. Notice that individuals who make claims but are not eligible for benefits are treated, along with those who do not file a claim, as having zero benefits. However, we exclude individuals who had claims open at the time of the sample job separation. This partly solves the problem that some people with claims open at January 1, 1997, for example, were still receiving DR benefits in the post-1997 period. We also exclude people who experienced a separation in 1996 but did not file a claim until 1997; these people received FS rather than DR benefits, though they would be classified as “pre-1997” on the basis of the date of their sample job separation. In total, we delete 5,765 observations. Our remaining sample is still very large scale: 21,417 for the pre-1997 cohorts (1 through 6) and 14,564 for the post-1997 cohorts.

Footnotes

6	The FS that is the focus of our study was implemented in January 1997, though other aspects of the EI program came into effect on July 1, 1996.
7	The “sample job” is the one that got the individual into the COEP survey. That is, the individual had a job, then separated from that job and a ROE was filed. On the basis of the ROE, the individual was randomly selected for the COEP survey.