Starting next week, jobless Canadians will be able to keep more of their employment insurance benefits if they find temporary jobs during searches for full-time work.
A new pilot program announced in the government's spring budget gets underway Sunday. The two year, $74-million pilot project will allow EI claimants to stay active in the labour market in their search for permanent work. It will cut the current clawback rate in half for people who are collecting EI but who have found temporary work.
The easing of the clawback would mean an unemployed person collecting $330 a week on EI while working for $450 a week would see a weekly earnings rise to $555 from $462.
The EI changes are billed as an attempt to drive economic growth by matching unemployed Canadians with employers trying to fill vacant jobs.
