Extra EI benefits blow past budget

A Liberal program to give extra employment insurance benefits to workers in regions hit hard by a drop in natural resource prices will end up costing almost $2 billion — more than double original estimates. The government budgeted for $827.4 million. The latest department estimates show the measure will end up costing $1.92 billion, largely the result of changes that allowed more workers to receive extra payments and unemployment rates that stayed higher for longer than the government anticipated.

Further details will come out later this year when the government releases its annual report on the EI system.

The extended benefit program rolled out in 2016 for workers in 12 regions that had seen a sharp and sustained drop in employment as a result of a downturn in energy prices.

Most workers were given an extra five weeks of benefits, while long-tenured workers received an extra 20 weeks.

By July, weekly data revealed that payments had exceeded $1.3 billion and department officials warned Social Development Minister Jean-Yves Duclos in a preliminary assessment that costs were likely to top $1.9 billion.

The assessment obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act says costs went up due to the addition of three regions to the program and making payments retroactive to January 2015, which gave workers who had already exhausted benefits an extra couple of weeks of payments.