CRB cuts won’t solve labour shortage

Daniel Blaikie By: Daniel Blaikie - Elmwood-Transcona MP Constituency Report Posted:

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/12/2021 (525 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

One of the first official acts of the federal government after the Prime Minister’s $600 million vanity election was to announce the end of the Canada Recovery Benefit. 
It made the announcement on Oct. 21 and ended the program on Oct. 23. About 900,000 people were still depending on this program and only got two days notice that financial support enabling them to make rent was over.
At one time, about nine million people were supported by the CRB or its predecessor program the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit. The fact that 90 per cent of people have already gone back to work shows that most people are keen to work.
Some of the people still on the CRB were independent travel agents. About 85 per cent of people in that industry are women, many of whom work for themselves. In the early days of the pandemic, they continued to support their clients in getting rebates and vouchers for cancelled trips. Today, they are helping clients book vacations for months down the road but they won’t be paid until their clients take the trips. 
The CRB was their lifeline to maintain their homes and their home offices. They were already reeling from the 40 per cent reduction in the benefit amount implemented in July, reducing the benefit from $500 per week to only $300 per week.
The new program to support people in the travel and tourism industry won’t help these agents, because you have to be an employee of someone else to receive assistance. There is no assistance in the new legislation for people who work for themselves.
These are just some of the people, about 45,000 of them, who were legitimately relying on the CRB to make ends meet while the effects of the pandemic on their industry resolve.
While there are many ‘help wanted’ signs out there, the available jobs are not necessarily the right fit for the people who were still on the CRB. Some employers are only offering a few three-hour shifts per week; not enough to make a living on. In other cases, employers are looking for education, skills and experience that these people do not have.
Rather than trying to starve CRB recipients into jobs that don’t support a family or for which they are not qualified, the government should be working with employers to identify what jobs are available and what qualifications are required for those positions. They could then match CRB recipients with jobs and help them get the education and training needed to fill the positions. 
This is what the government did decades ago under the old Unemployment Insurance system and it is the best way to solve the dual problem we face of having high unemployment in the midst of a labour shortage.

One of the first official acts of the federal government after the Prime Minister’s $600 million vanity election was to announce the end of the Canada Recovery Benefit. 

It made the announcement on Oct. 21 and ended the program on Oct. 23. About 900,000 people were still depending on this program and only got two days notice that financial support enabling them to make rent was over.

At one time, about nine million people were supported by the CRB or its predecessor program the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit. The fact that 90 per cent of people have already gone back to work shows that most people are keen to work.

Some of the people still on the CRB were independent travel agents. About 85 per cent of people in that industry are women, many of whom work for themselves. In the early days of the pandemic, they continued to support their clients in getting rebates and vouchers for cancelled trips. Today, they are helping clients book vacations for months down the road but they won’t be paid until their clients take the trips. 

The CRB was their lifeline to maintain their homes and their home offices. They were already reeling from the 40 per cent reduction in the benefit amount implemented in July, reducing the benefit from $500 per week to only $300 per week.

The new program to support people in the travel and tourism industry won’t help these agents, because you have to be an employee of someone else to receive assistance. There is no assistance in the new legislation for people who work for themselves.

These are just some of the people, about 45,000 of them, who were legitimately relying on the CRB to make ends meet while the effects of the pandemic on their industry resolve.

While there are many ‘help wanted’ signs out there, the available jobs are not necessarily the right fit for the people who were still on the CRB. Some employers are only offering a few three-hour shifts per week; not enough to make a living on. In other cases, employers are looking for education, skills and experience that these people do not have.

Rather than trying to starve CRB recipients into jobs that don’t support a family or for which they are not qualified, the government should be working with employers to identify what jobs are available and what qualifications are required for those positions. They could then match CRB recipients with jobs and help them get the education and training needed to fill the positions. 

This is what the government did decades ago under the old Unemployment Insurance system and it is the best way to solve the dual problem we face of having high unemployment in the midst of a labour shortage.

Daniel Blaikie

Daniel Blaikie
Elmwood-Transcona constituency report

Daniel Blaikie is the NDP MP for Elmwood-Transcona.

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