(The following article is from the February 1-28, 2010 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

Nearly half a million Canadians may exhaust their Employment Insurance benefits without finding work, according to a new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Many of these unemployed will have to deplete their savings, or resort to loans, family members or welfare for financial help, warns the CCPA.

     Even before the economic crash in late 2008, about a quarter of EI recipients saw their benefits expire, says the CCPA report, based on 2006/2007 federal government statistics. About two million new claims were filed last year, so the report estimates about half a million people may be running out.

     Meanwhile, Statistics Canada reported in mid-January that the number of EI recipients fell to 795,900 in November, from a peak of 829,300 last June. The StatsCan monthly report doesn't say how many ran out of claims without finding work. Canada's official unemployment rate is 8.5 per cent, near an 11-year high.

     "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," says Andrew Jackson, CCPA research associate and chief economist at the Canadian Labour Congress. "As the number of EI exhaustees increases, so will provincial social assistance caseloads and the number of families living in poverty."

     On average, an EI claimant qualifies for about 38 weeks of benefits. But over half of Canada's jobless workers do not even qualify for EI, thanks to stringent eligibility rules which deny benefits to those without enough qualifying hours, or others who quit jobs due to intolerable working conditions.

     Last year, the federal government was compelled to adopt a few slight improvements to the EI system, by extending the number of weeks people are eligible, and letting companies adopt work-sharing programs where employees can work fewer hours and still qualify for EI. The CCPA report called on the federal government to extend EI benefits for all unemployed workers by at least 26 weeks.

     The federal Finance Department said on Jan. 22 that the deficit has jumped to more than $36 billion for the 2009-10 fiscal year. Stephen Harper has already announced that his minority government plans to cut the deficit by slashing social spending.