Survey of Employment Insurance Coverage

Description: The objective of the survey was to study the extent of coverage of the Employment Insurance program, to identify the segments of the non-working population that do not receive benefits and to improve the coverage and design of employment insurance in Canada.

The survey was funded by Human Resources Development Canada as part of the monitoring and analysis of the Employment Insurance (EI) program. In general, the survey provided data for research into the degree of income protection provided the Canadian population by the Employment Insurance Program. This will improve HRDC's ability to plan and design the program.

Who/what is surveyed: Individuals who are not working in a reference week or worked part-time

How the data is collected: Computer-assisted telephone interviews

Geographic detail: Ten provinces and four regions of Canada

Demographic detail: age, sex, marital status, relationship to reference person, mother tongue

Information collected: Job characteristics: Industry and occupation groups, employment insurance deductions, union membership, rate of pay, tips or commissions, hours worked, permanent/non permanent employment, weeks employed, work absences, work schedule, reason for job separation, notice received from employer payments from employer at separation: severance pay or pay instead of vacation, etc.

Employment Insurance Activity: claims, benefits received, type of benefits, weeks of benefits, reason for not receiving benefits

Income Adequacy:
sources of income and financial assistance, main source of income, sufficiency of income, job search experience, current working status, lowest wage acceptable, chances of finding an acceptable job, helpful means of finding work

Mother tongue
Labour Force Survey variables

Frequency: Quarterly

Sample size: 3,500 persons per year

Reference period: Four weeks in 1997, 1998 and 1999

Release dates: June following the reference year

Response rates: 82% - 85% contacted and responding

What makes the data valuable:

1. Correspondance to the labour force status variable from the Labour Force Survey
2. Covers whole population who could theoretically get regular EI benefits

Related surveys or data:

Employment Insurance Statistics (administrative data)

Products and services:

Catalogue no. 73F0008XPF available at www.statcan.cawww.statcan.ca under "Free publications"

Responsible division: Special Surveys