Canada's jobless benefits below average, report says

Benefits for those out of work in Canada are well below the average for OECD countries and, if not bolstered, will deepen and prolong the country's economic downturn, a study by a left-leaning think tank warned yesterday. Canada's current system "offers relatively little income protection" in terms of access, benefit duration, and income replacement levels compared with other industrialized countries, and compared with Canada's unemployment insurance systems of previous years, said the report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. The findings come as a national panel was created this month to study potential changes to the employment insurance (EI) scheme.