BACKGROUNDER

ST. JOHN’S ANNOUNCEMENT

EMPLOYMENT BENEFITS AND SUPPORT MEASURES

Employment Benefits and Support Measures (EBSMs) are designed to help unemployed individuals to reintegrate into the labour market.    EBSM programs and services are delivered under the Canada/Newfoundland and Labrador Labour Market Development Agreement (LMDA).

Under the LMDA, the Government of Canada, represented by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, and the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, represented by Human Resources, Labour and Employment, work in partnership to deliver these programs and services to help unemployed workers.

The measures are funded, in whole or in part, by the Government of Canada from the Employment Insurance (EI) account.

Employment Assistance Services

The Employment Assistance Services program helps unemployed individuals to prepare for, find and keep employment by providing them with services such as counselling, job search techniques, job placements, and labour market information.

These services are available to all unemployed Canadians regardless of whether or not they ever established a claim for Employment Insurance. 

The two recipients of the Employment Assistance Services funding are:

Job Creation Partnerships

The Job Creation Partnerships program provides unemployed individuals with opportunities to gain work experience on projects developed in partnership with other levels of government, business or community groups. 

The recipient of the Job Creation Partnerships funding is:

Labour Market Partnerships

The Labour Market Partnerships (LMP) program encourages communities to take greater responsibility for creating local employment by actively involving community partners.   Partners include employers; employees or their associations; provincial, territorial, and municipal governments; non-governmental organizations; health and educational institutions; band and tribal councils; and individuals and groups, among others.

The LMP program helps organizations to identify their human resource requirements and develop plans to address them, and can also be used to implement labour force adjustment measures.  

The five recipients of the Labour Market Partnerships funding are:

Targeted Wage Subsidies

The Targeted Wage Subsidies program helps unemployed individuals who cannot find work due to employment barriers or a lack of job experience.   Employers receive a temporary wage subsidy as an incentive to hire individuals that they would not normally hire.   The expectation is that the subsidy will lead to a permanent job with the employer or with another employer.

Eligible participants include individuals currently receiving Employment Insurance benefits who established a benefit period that ended within the past 36 months.   They also include individuals who established a benefit period for EI maternity or parental benefits that began within the past 60 months (five years) and who are re-entering the work force after caring for a child.

Targeted Wage Subsidies can be in effect for up to a year and a half, but the average duration is between 26 and 30 weeks.    Normally, the subsidy is not more than 60 percent of the participant’s total wages for the period of the agreement.

The two recipients of the Targeted Wage Subsidies funding are:

Youth Employment Strategy

The Youth Employment Strategy (YES) is the Government of Canada’s commitment to helping young Canadians, particularly those facing barriers to employment, get the information and gain the expertise, work experience and skills they need to make a successful transition to the workplace.   The YES offers three programs for youth: Skills Link, Summer Work Experience and Career Focus.

Skills Link provides funding for community organizations to help youth facing barriers to employment, such as single parents, Aboriginal youth, young persons with disabilities, recent immigrants and high school drop-outs, to develop the skills, knowledge and work experience they need to participate in the job market.

The recipient of the Skills Link funding is:

For more information on programs under the Government of Canada’s Youth Employment Strategy, call the Youth Info Line at 1 800 935-5555, or visit our Web site at youth.gc.ca.