As a result of their deliberations committees may make recommendations which they include in their reports for the consideration of the House of Commons or the Government. Recommendations related to this study are listed below.

Recommendation 1

That Employment and Social Development Canada work with relevant government departments and agencies in consultation with industry, labour, academia, workers with lived experience of precarious employment, and other stakeholders, in order to come to a common understanding of precarious employment, and in so doing, consider the following dimensions and elements: compensation (including wages, benefits, and income volatility), job security (including work arrangements and sectoral changes), working conditions, opportunities for career development, and an individual’s circumstances.

Recommendation 2

Employment and Social Development Canada work together with Statistics Canada to

• develop a data strategy for measuring these elements that includes quantitative, qualitative and longitudinal components; and
• ensure the data strategy incorporates the labour market participation, income security outcomes and skills of vulnerable groups (including women, Indigenous people, visible minorities, youth, recent immigrants, temporary foreign workers, interns, seniors, and people with disabilities).

Recommendation 3

That Employment and Social Development Canada review and reform Employment Insurance to better support workers in precarious employment including those in self-employment. To this end, reforms must consider:

• reducing the number of hours worked required to qualify;
• increasing the amount of the benefit for workers with low earnings;
• the rules that apply to and benefits available to self-employed workers;
• the accessibility of skills training and vocational programs delivered through Employment Insurance; and
• international best practices.

Recommendation 4

That Employment and Social Development Canada study forms of income support, such as a guaranteed annual income or other transfer programs, that are not tied to employment.

Recommendation 5

That Employment and Social Development Canada work with other federal government departments and agencies to review human resources practices with a view to:

• reducing reliance on temporary agency workers and solo self-employed;
• improving protections of temporary agency workers and solo-self employed to ensure that they enjoy the same level of occupational health and safety protections and access to workers compensation; and
• reviewing human resources policies and budgeting practices to ensure that they incentivize hiring employees on indeterminate contracts.

Recommendation 6

That Employment and Social Development Canada and the expert panel:

• Refine the scope of the review, recognizing that low-wage workers and vulnerable workers (women, youth, seniors, Indigenous workers, recent immigrants, people with disabilities, visible minorities, interns and temporary foreign workers) need to be considered; and
• Explore Parts I and II of the Canada Labour Code as well as other federal programs with a view to making work less precarious.

Recommendation 7

That Employment and Social Development Canada seek to collaborate with provinces and territories to ensure that workers who may straddle the boundaries of jurisdictions and the employer/employee relationship (especially the self-employed) have access to occupational health and safety protections and workers compensation.

Recommendation 8

That Employment and Social Development Canada make greater investments in staffing the Labour Program inspectorate to:

• promote employer and worker education on rights and responsibilities;
• support employers to meet administrative and reporting requirements; and
• inspect workplaces proactively to ensure compliance with labour standards and occupational health and safety protections.

Recommendation 9

That Employment and Social Development Canada, business, labour, educators and provincial and territorial governments develop an essential skills agenda for the 21^st century workforce. This skills agenda should include:

• the creation of a national skills and competency framework and corresponding assessment tools;
• forecasting future skills needs and measuring existing and forecasted gaps;
• the development of training programs to address these gaps; and
• the development of measures that will support a culture of lifelong learning.

Recommendation 10

That Employment and Social Development Canada, in the design, roll-out and evaluations of the Canada Training Benefit:

• pay special attention to the circumstances of vulnerable workers, workers in low-wage employment and workers in temporary, involuntary part-time and self-employment working arrangements;
• ensure the Canada Training Benefit is accompanied by appropriate metrics for performance, consulting with employees and employers, and paying close attention to the benefits to our economy over time;
• ensure that employees and employers who access the program will derive benefits from it;
• ensure that as business support their employees who depart for training, the impact on business is minimized;
• ensure that the small business rebate associated with the Canada Training Benefit is sufficient, well-structured, and communicated clearly to employers;
• collaborate with provinces and territories to reach an agreement on corresponding leave provisions; and
• make every effort to ensure take-up of this benefit by these workers.

Recommendation 11

That Employment and Social Development Canada, working with the whole of government, and all orders of government, recognize the impacts to our society posed by the significant rise in precarious employment, and work to achieve the right mix of policies and programs to address the damaging effects of precarious employment on the individual and Canadian families.