EI financing turns around, surplus forecast for next year: report
by The Canadian Press
Corporation's board predicting revenues will exceed expenditures by $1.3-billion next year
OTTAWA—The Crown Corporation which oversees employment insurance says its financing is looking healthy and will show a surplus next year.
The Canada Employment Insurance Financing Board is predicting that revenues will exceed expenditures by $1.3-billion next year and its operating account deficit will fall to $7.6-billion.
The corporation says its premiums for 2013 will rise by five cents to $1.88 for every $100 of insurable earnings for everyone outside Quebec.
The Quebec rate will also go up by a nickel to $1.52 for every $100 in insurable earnings.
The report welcomes employment insurance measures proposed in the Harper government’s economic action plan 2012, saying they will improve the stability and predictability of EI rates.
The measures will also limit the tendency to create significant deficits and surpluses in the EI operating account, the report says.
The report says net expenditures for EI have dropped significantly from 2009 as the number of jobless people shrank.
“2012 marks a turning point in EI financing,” said David Brown, chairman of the financing board. “The balance in the EI operating account has turned around and the cumulative deficit is firmly on a downward path. The reduction is estimated at $1.3-billion for 2013.”
Brown said the action plan measures will be a boon for the system.
“We believe that the new, seven-year horizon break-even rate, once it will be implemented, will improve the stability and predictability of the EI premium rates,” he said.
