Employment Insurance and Active Labour Market Policies in Canada

Abstract

Canada’s Employment Insurance program underwent significant reform in 1996 which emphasized active labour market policies over passive policies. The shift coincided with international sentiment at the time that said active policies were more effective and efficient at dealing with contemporary unemployment challenges. This paper sets out to understand if Canada’s active labour market policies are effective. The paper looks at evaluations published by Employment and Social Development Canada and asks if active labour market polices help participants find employment and if so, why. The paper finds that national-level reports do not provide sufficient data to make that assessment, but provincial-level reports show that active labour market policies are relatively successful at helping people find work. Another important finding is the shortcomings of the evaluation process, and several recommendations to improve evaluations are discussed.