Economics: Media Articles

Chapter 5 Media Article

"Recipients of employment insurance down 17.7% in B.C." Vancouver Sun, February 22, 2006

Collecting E.I. (unemployment insurance) in BC has dropped dramatically (17.7%), but it's incomparable to Alberta's 27% drop. Even though there's a huge drop in EI collection it doesn't necessarily mean it’s a good thing. It could mean people are otherwise on welfare or they have successfully found employment. The downside to a lower unemployment rate is "But a lower unemployment rate also has a down side: The lower the unemployment rate, the harder it is for people to qualify for unemployment benefits, and the less time they will receive those benefits"

Background information: Employment insurance goes to people who have worked 7000 hours in the previous year, giving them about 14 weeks of benefits. Employment insurance goes to people who haven't been able to find a job, but is in the job forced. This is for areas where unemployment is under 6%. Places where unemployment is 16% or above a person would need to work just 420 hours in order to recieve 32 weeks of benefits.

In relation chapter 5:

Unemployment in Vancouver isn't very high due to the fact that Vancouver 2010 is underway. However, its not always necessarily the best thing when unemployments are low. Unemployment insurance measures only people trying to look for a job and have only worked a certain amount of hours before. So seasonal jobs (logging, fishing industry) won't necessarily offer to give E.I. to everyone if you've only worked a fraction of the mandatory hours needed to get E.I.

posted by Meghan @ 7:09 PM