Canada's Employment Insurance system is failing the recession "stress test" and many unemployed workers are falling through the cracks. The number of unemployed Canadians not in receipt of EI benefits jumped from 650,760 in October 2008 to 777,4000 in October 2009, even as the system because easier to access. It is estimated that as many as 500,000 Canadians who initiated an EI claim in 2009 will exhaust their benefits because new jobs remain very difficult to find.
The report makes recommendations for improving the EI system and calls on the federal government to make EI reform a key priority in the upcoming buget.
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