[Translation]
With me today is Louis Beauséjour, Director General, Employment Insurance Policy, and Allen Sutherland, Director General, Labour Market Policy. My name is Paul Thompson, and I am Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Skills and Employment Branch.
I am pleased to appear before the Standing Committee on the Status of Women to discuss the current Employment Insurance program and the impact this program has on women in Canada, as well as highlight some additional labour market programs.
Today we are faced with the unique challenges raised by an unprecedented global economic downturn. At such a time, programs such as employment insurance are crucial supports for Canadians and their families as they face job losses and significant changes to the labour market.
There are many positive achievements to report at this time regarding the situation of women in the labour force. Over the last 30 years, one of the most dramatic labour market trends has been the increase in women's educational attainment and labour force participation. This places women in a strong competitive position for the future, when we emerge from the downturn and continue the shift to a knowledge-based economy. At the same time, we recognize that continued efforts are required to address the challenges that women face as they seek to prepare for, find, and maintain employment. Gender-based analysis is embedded in our ongoing analyses of the labour market at both the strategic policy and program levels.
[English]
There is good news to report concerning the educational attainment of women as well as their labour force participation. In the area of post-secondary education, Canadian women have steadily increased their participation and now represent a clear majority, 60%, of all new university graduates.
Canadian women have the highest rate of post-secondary educational attainment among OECD countries. These high levels of educational attainment have positioned the younger generation of Canadian women for success in a globally competitive, knowledge-based economy. At the same time, women's labour market participation and employment rates have risen strongly. Since the early 1990s, the labour force participation gap between men and women has been cut in half and now stands at only eight percentage points.
In 2007, the proportion of Canadian women who were employed, 70%, significantly exceeded both the G-7 average and the OECD average. Similarly, the labour force participation rate for Canadian working-age women was 74.3%, the highest among G-7 countries, and was sixth among OECD countries. As well, since the early 1990s, women's unemployment rates have been below those of men. The rate of unemployment for women is currently 1.8 percentage points below that of men. In 2007, the unemployment rate of 5.7% for Canadian women was comparable to the G-7 average and below the OECD average.
Women still earn less than men in Canada. However, with the increasing education of women, the gender wage gap of full-time employees is narrowing, from 74% in 1995 to 79% in 2005, and this gap is narrowing further for young women with post-secondary education.
I'd like to turn to the current economic context. During the last few months, the global economic situation has clearly deteriorated further and faster than anyone but the most pessimistic forecasters would have predicted. As a result, many Canadians are experiencing difficult times of transition during the current economic slowdown.
It's important to note that past recessions have affected men and women differently. In the recessions of the eighties and nineties, fewer women than men lost their jobs. This was primarily due to a higher representation of men in the goods sectors, such as manufacturing and construction, where most of the job losses actually occurred. Women were and still are more highly represented in the services sector, which traditionally experiences less employment loss during turbulent economic times.
To date, we have seen that the impact of the current downturn has varied by age group and has been felt disproportionately by men. Women account for a minority of net job losses to date in Canada as a result of the downturn, which is consistent with the experiences in both the United States and the European Union.
The International Labour Organization indicates that while the current economic downturn is expected to be more detrimental for females than for males in most regions of the world, it is less obvious whether there will be such a gender impact here in Canada.
[Translation]
Now let's talk about our programming. In addition to Employment Insurance (EI), HRSDC offers a variety of programming to support Canadian men and women, such as Aboriginal Human Resources Development, Targeted Initiative for Older Workers, Trades and Apprenticeship Strategy, and the Opportunities Fund. Through Labour Market Development Agreements with provinces and territories, the federal government also supports a variety of initiatives designed to improve the labour market participation of Canadian men and women. I will begin by discussing the EI program and its impacts on women.
[English]
A deck presentation of the materials has been distributed, which goes into more detail on some of the facts and figures I will be presenting.
First is the question of access to the employment insurance program. Particularly during an economic downturn, employment insurance is the first line of defence. It is an insurance system for the loss of employment income where access is determined by individual work patterns of the contributors and not, of course, by gender specifically.
Currently the EI program divides the country into regions based on similar labour market economic conditions. As unemployment rates increase in a given region, the number of insured hours required to access the program is reduced, and the duration of benefits increases. These requirements are adjusted on a monthly basis to reflect the latest regional economic situations. This allows for a certain measure of automatic stabilization and responsiveness to local job markets.
EI access is high for those who have been contributing to the program. The rate of eligibility has been between 80% and 84% every year since 2000.
Women's access to EI regular benefits is also high. In 2007, 81% of unemployed women who had been paying premiums and were then laid off or quit with just cause were eligible for regular benefits.
The EI program contains many additional features of particular importance to women in light of their broader societal role and the disproportionate burden of unpaid work that they do in the form of caring for children, the elderly, persons with disabilities or chronically ill family members. For example, the fifty weeks of EI maternity and parental benefits plays a critical role in supporting Canadian families by providing temporary income replacement for working parents of newborn or newly adopted children. These benefits help provide flexibility for many women and men to stay home and nurture their child during that all-important first year.
The EI program also provides compassionate benefits to provide some income support to enable workers to take time off to care for a critically ill family member. Women's access to these EI special benefits, which include maternity and parental, is very high. In fact, 97% of women working full-time quality for these special benefits.
Women accounted for 68% of the special benefit claims and received 84% of the $3.7 billion paid in special benefits in 2006-2007. The majority of new compassionate care claims were also established by women at 75.1%, and women received 76% of the claims associated with the family supplement.
Beyond these benefits, which support balancing work and family responsibilities, it is recognized that women make up a large portion of the non-standard workforce: contract or self-employed or part-time workers. Among women working part-time, 66% have sufficient hours to be eligible for special benefits such as maternity leave, and part-time workers can access EI regular benefits having worked as little as eight to fourteen hours per week over the course of the previous year.
The government is also creating an expert panel to consult Canadians on how best to provide self-employed Canadians with access to EI, maternity, and parental benefits.
Overall, women are net beneficiaries of the EI program, as they receive more in benefits than they contribute in premiums.
Turning to some of the recent improvements or changes to the EI program, in response to the extraordinary economic circumstances, the government has made a number of adjustments to the program to support Canadians in making transitions during the current economic slowdown. Budget 2009 committed to making available nationally the five weeks of extended EI benefits that have previously been available only through a pilot project in regions with the highest unemployment rates.
This measure also increases the maximum duration of benefits available under the program from 45 to 50 weeks. And it is our estimate that about 400,000 claimants would benefit from these changes during the first year.
Other improvements that would benefit workers affected by the downturn in the economy, regardless of their gender, include extending income support for long-tenured workers that are undertaking training, allowing earlier access to EI benefits for those workers investing in their own training using part or all of their severance pay, improving the work-sharing program by extending the duration and making the agreements more flexible, and freezing EI premiums in 2010 at the levels of 2009 and 2008.
So EI income benefits are one pillar that supports the participation of Canadian women in the labour market, but as mentioned earlier, there are other programs that do this as well. One notable example is the aboriginal human resource development strategy, funded in part through employment insurance, which helps first nations, Métis, and Inuit women prepare for, find, and keep their jobs and offers important supports for women in areas such as child care.
Another area is the targeted initiative for older workers, which provides support to unemployed older workers in communities that are affected by significant downsizing or closures and/or ongoing high unemployment. It does this through programming aimed at improving their employability or integrating them into employment. Budget 2009 committed an additional $60 million over three years to this program to expand eligibility and to include more cities. Women make up approximately 50% of the participants in this program.
The trades and apprenticeship strategy is another area designed to build and strengthen the infrastructure and capacity of apprenticeship systems across the country, particularly the interprovincial standards red seal program, to respond effectively to labour market requirements for skilled and mobile tradespeople.
According to Statistics Canada's registered apprenticeship information system, the number of women in apprenticeships has been increasing considerably. Since 2001 the number of women registered in apprenticeship programs has increased by 68%, from 16,365 in 2001 to over 27,000 in 2006. In terms of the percentage of the total number of apprentices, female participation has grown from about 9.2% to over 10% in 2006.
Another area of activity is the youth employment strategy, which supports Canadian youth as they move into the world of work. The YES provides young Canadians with access to programs and services to help them gain the skills, knowledge, career information, and work experience they need to find and maintain employment, and to make transitions in the labour market.
In budget 2009 the government committed to provide a one-time grant of $15 million to the YMCA and the YWCA to place youth, both male and female, in internships in not-for-profit and/or community service organizations, with a focus on environmental projects. This initiative will assist young Canadians and provide them with valuable work experience and earnings to support their further education.
[Translation]
In conclusion, I have outlined the contribution that EI and other programs make in supporting women's participation in the labour market, as well as how they assist women to manage roles they play as caregivers, parents, and workers. While much has been achieved, we must not lose sight of the varied needs of Canadians, particularly during these difficult economic times. In order to maintain these gains, and to improve upon them, the government will continue to support and promote full participation of vulnerable groups, including women, in the labour force.
It is a privilege to be here with you this morning. As you've heard, I'm representing the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants, located in Toronto. Unfortunately, no one could get here quickly, so here I am, and I'll try to represent them as best as I can.
The Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants is an autonomous umbrella body that has been around since 1978. This organization is made up of 177 agencies across Ontario. Many of these agencies provide services to immigrants and visible minority individuals, and the agency has acted as a collective voice for the sector for more 30 years.
To address the particular issue before us, what we have found and what I'm presenting here is based on information that we have gathered from our member agencies.
The biggest challenges that OCASI member agencies encounter in assisting immigrants and refugees to settle and integrate are labour market integration and income security. These two are not unconnected. A stable job and a liveable income are critically important to effective settlement and integration.
Equally important is adequate and effective recourse, in the event someone becomes unemployed, or loses access to a liveable income obtained through other means, such as family sponsorship.
OCASI member agencies are particularly concerned about the experience of immigrant and refugee women, particularly women from racialized communities, because these women are significantly disadvantaged in the labour market and in accessing services and whatever recourse they might have when things just don't work out.
The Colour of Poverty campaign is a campaign of a group of individuals and organizations in Ontario who have been addressing the issue of poverty over the last year or two. OCASI is a founding member of that organization and a part of the leadership, and it has done extensive research supporting the findings of OCASI member agencies.
The Colour of Poverty income fact sheet describes the situation that immigrant and refugee women, particular those from racialized communities, face in the labour market. According to the Colour of Poverty fact sheet, a growing number of immigrants and women “are employed in part-time and unstable work. This means they do not have employment insurance, even though they pay into the EI fund”.
Statistics Canada has documented the existence of the troubling income gap between men and women in Canada. It has also documented the growing income gap between racialized and non-racialized residents of Canada. Citing census data from Statistics Canada, the National Working Group on Women and Housing reports that “35% of all women who immigrated to Canada between 1991 and 2000 live in poverty and 37% of all racialized women live in poverty.
In our country, economic restructuring has impacted many women. Even those who are highly skilled and well educated have found themselves accepting part-time or contract work just to survive. Immigrants, particularly women and women from racialized communities, are over-represented in contingent work. The rise of contingent work and the growing presence of the most disadvantaged workers in this sector is widely documented. Immigrants and refugees experience massive systemic barriers to labour market integration, including racism and discrimination. Contingent work, most often work obtained through a temporary help agency, presents a practical but harsh option to become and remain employed.
OCASI member agencies have said that most clients get their first jobs in Canada through temporary agencies. Clients remain in temp work for many years, often up to and beyond ten years. Often they work at more than one job at the same time. They are rarely employed in a job that allows them to use their skills and qualifications, particularly those that made them desirable candidates for immigration to Canada, which results in them becoming what we call de-skilled immigrants.
Most immigrants, including immigrant women, pay EI premiums. Many clients have said that the premium is deducted from the cheque by the temporary agency or other employers. However, given the contingent nature of the work--temporary, part-time, on-call, or piece work, just to mention a few--most immigrants, and most immigrant women, who are overrespresented in these types of work situations, rarely, if ever, qualify for employment insurance benefits.
A report released by the Canadian Labour Congress about six years ago indicated that in Canada we're seeing a drop in EI benefits to Canadian women. In Ontario, only 27% of workers qualify for employment insurance. The other 73% cannot access benefits in the event of job loss or for maternity, parental, or compassionate leave. It is deeply troubling that the majority of immigrant women who pay into the EI fund cannot access benefits. Neither can they access training opportunities that are tied to EI eligibility.
So what is the current and future impact on immigrant and refugee women? “Time For A Fair Deal”, a report of the task force for modernizing income security for working-age adults, highlights the fact that income security in Ontario does not work due to the fact that there have not been fundamental changes to it since the 1960s. Immigrant women who have paid into EI but don't qualify have no recourse other than our increasingly tattered social safety net. Sponsored immigrants who turn to social assistance face serious consequences that can impact on the sponsor. Specifically, there may be a demand from the government to repay benefits, or they could be barred from the possibility of future sponsorship undertaken, even after the individual's economic situation has improved.
In the absence of any form of meaningful skills-training opportunities that would lead to labour market reintegration, the lack of access to EI-funded training has a particularly harsh impact on immigrant women. These systemic barriers are severely disadvantaging immigrant women, locating them and their families forever in a subordinate position. The impact is particularly harsh on lone parent households and will be felt by more than one generation in that family.
The lack of a safety net for sole-parenting immigrant women means a lack of access to adequate housing, post-secondary education, health benefits, and full security for them and their dependents. In the case of elder care, this can mean lack of services that help to maintain health and well-being. In the case of the children, it could mean lack of funds for child care, extracurricular paid recreational activities, or post-secondary education.
These realities are especially alarming now, when we are in the midst of a recession. We need the federal government to act immediately to fix the EI program but also to invest in measures that would include labour market integration opportunities for immigrant women and would provide income security, if not improve income security.
In June 2006, the Standing Committee on the Status of Women released its report entitled “Improving the Economic Security of Women: Time to Act”. In this report, they presented 21 recommendations to the government. I would just like to pause at this moment to highlight two of those recommendations, recommendations 13 and 15. Recommendation 13 states:
The Committee recommends that the federal government change the eligibility criteria under the Employment Insurance Act to increase access to benefits to persons in part-time or part-year work.
Recommendation 15 states:
The Committee recommends that the federal government amend the Employment Insurance Act to allow self-employed persons to opt into the special benefits programs under the Employment Insurance (EI) program, such as maternity and parental benefits and the Compassionate Care Benefit.
OCASI calls on the committee—you—to reintroduce these recommendations. The next few years are going to be most challenging for OCASI members as they attempt to help clients survive the recession. Our members cannot do this alone. The crisis is already upon us, and we urge the government to act quickly.
Thank you.
:
I must first say that as grateful as I am for being here today, I am very emotional, and I am very nervous, so forgive me, please. I must say first that I truly appreciate all of you here and the work you're doing.
I heard many times “the woman, the woman,” and I am the woman, and I am the mother. I want you to forgive me today, because this is one of the greatest days of my life, because I have the chance to bring out the voice of the mother and the woman who lived without EI benefits for four years.
As a very young child, I had the true benefits of love and care and guidance of exceptional parents, who taught me that education will always open my path. They taught me how to learn from the teaching of the greatest minds of humanity from the ancient time to the modern time. I faced political discrimination since a very young age, and I know how it feels not to have the freedom of speech, the freedom to learn. I was refused three times the opportunity to have good schooling, but with my parents' support I made it. We all talk about the importance of the early years, what a difference the early years make to our children, and how important and significant our investment in those first years of life is. I do believe that those first years of my life and my love and passion and dedication and determination to give my son a better future have got me here today in front of you. I thank you very much for giving me this opportunity.
It was about ten years ago that Canada would be my home, and I never will be able to articulate how it feels to be free, with no fears and not running for my life. I was reminded all my life that I always could build something from nothing, if only I could be a free citizen, a respected one, and could be given opportunity to live in a democratic place. I worked for my first three years in four different restaurants as a waitress. It was very difficult to balance the schedule so I could do a few hours in each one of them, but it was good enough to help me learn quite a bit of the language, and how things worked in my new home, and to make me self-sufficient to support myself, and even make a little bit of savings, because I have learned how to live with very little.
I took my savings, and I opened a business with a very minimal investment. It took very long hours, but it didn't seem that long at the time. It took a lot of physical work to build a business with no money for advertisement, for equipment, for almost anything. I was very proud and very happy that I could build something from nothing. Afterwards, I learned that treating each one of my guests as a very special person was the success of my business.
I was blessed to have a wonderful son in the second year of my business. I did not have an opportunity to have maternity leave. I did not have much money to have a lot of employees and bookkeepers and all that is needed to run a business.
I returned to work three weeks after having a C-section and I still was very happy. About a year later my precious child started losing his words and the first signs of panic came. I am not very comfortable telling you that I have lived in panic for the last four years. But I am very comfortable telling you that I have learned how to live one day at a time and one hour at a time, and I hang on to the hope that one day someone representing the government will hear me--not just me, because I truly believe my voice represents a lot of mothers like me--and will make so much needed change by giving access to some kind of help.
I have knocked on all the doors, and I am very happy and grateful to my God that I have found the strength, on my son's behalf, to advocate and try to knock on all the doors that I can to find the help. There is not much available out there.
But I am not angry. I am desperate, but I am hopeful.
I did not have a day off. I did not have a sick day for all those years. I was working in the beginning to build a dream, to build a better life, and now I am working full-time and overtime every day to help my son, little by little, to break down the information and to build a little communication skill. I know that no one can make it alone and I cannot make it alone also, nor can my son.
At the end of the day, the bills need to be paid. Having a special needs child right away made me a special mother. Besides severe autism, my son has a lot of other issues related to his immune system. I have spent countless nights in an emergency room chair.
I am very sorry if this is not something that you wish to hear today, but I am very grateful that you are listening to me.
I urge you to please do something. Use any power that you have and provide something for fathers and mothers like me, and for children like my child.
I have worked very hard. I truly have worked very hard and I believe I deserve some support. I do not really have a place to go and I just want to hope that someone will give me another opportunity. I hope someone here knows what autism is, but I know what living with it is.
Give me another opportunity to talk to the experts, because I have to be the speech pathologist, the occupational therapist, the physiotherapist, and the service coordinator.
I have to do the laundry. I have to blend the food. The sensory issues are very complex. My son's disorder is very complex and it requires a very complex intervention.
I want to hope that some of you today will join me and make a difference, not only for the EI contribution. It could be something else that I'm not aware of; I don't have that commodity any more, not even watching the news. I am a full-time caregiver.
:
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you very much, Ms. Spencer.
Thank you, Ms. Ngjelina. I have a lot of sympathy for you. I have a 38-year-old son who is a hemophiliac. When I had him, there weren't any services for the parents of hemophiliac children either, and it was considered more serious than it is today. I sympathize with you a great deal and I thank you for your courage in coming and presenting that to strangers, in front of strangers, not knowing what you could get out of it. Unfortunately, I'm afraid that it will be quite little, but, on the other hand, I believe that every time a woman takes a step forward, every time a woman who has a need dares to express it, dares to say it to people who represent her in government, she may have a chance to open an ear or a heart. I believe that because I am a very confident woman.
I previously worked a great deal with immigrant women. I congratulate you all the more for all the work you are doing, Ms. Spencer.
Ms. Ngjelina, I would like to know what has happened to your business since you had your son and discovered that he is autistic. In addition, if you don't have a job, perhaps you are eligible for the new program for women who have been unemployed or out of the job market for a number of years and who need to requalify in order to find a job. That's part of the new employment insurance program. Ms. Boucher could perhaps give you some additional information on that; she is the .
As regards your son, Ms. Ngjelina, I don't know what services you can find, but there is no doubt an organization for natural caregivers. Do you belong to that kind of organization? If not, we can no doubt give you contact information to help you find support. There is also an organization for autistic persons. We can give you the references so that you can find support in that area as well. You deserve all our sympathy, but also all our recognition for everything you are doing. Thank you very much for being here.
Ms. Spencer, I would like to know one thing. We've made recommendations regarding immigrant women who work as household workers under the Live-in Caregiver Program, which more particularly serves women from the Philippines. These women also have a lot of problems as a result of the situation with which you are no doubt familiar. They must live at the home of their employer for two years before they can obtain documents legalizing their residence and before they can look for another job. As a result, some women experience situations of abuse because they have to live in the same place for two years. Do you know whether the situation has improved?
In yesterday's newspapers—this is beginning to come out—it was reported that the economic crisis is currently affecting immigrant women more than women in other communities. I would like to hear what you have to say on that as well. Thank you.