The federal government says 7,700 seasonal workers in Nova Scotia are eligible for a top-up in employment insurance benefits worth a total of $12.5 million due to the latest tweak in the program.
Pilot project 22 — as it is called — will be available to 42,000 eligible seasonal workers, all but 100 in Quebec and Atlantic Canada.
Documents posted Wednesday by Employment and Social Development Canada provide more detail on a measure announced last month to offer up to four additional weeks of EI regular benefits for eligible claims filed by September 2024.
The department is trying to close an “income gap” that arises when claimants exhaust EI benefits before seasonal work resumes. A situation oddly exacerbated this year because of falling unemployment rates in seven of 13 employment insurance economic regions, including both EI regions in Nova Scotia.
Long-standing rules often mean when regional unemployment rates fall, so do the number of weeks eligible to receive benefits, reflecting an improved labour market.
