Employment Insurance (EI) provides temporary income to eligible Canadian workers who lose their jobs through no fault of their own. A premium is deducted from every paycheque according to a person's earnings and paid into a national account, and employers are required to contribute on behalf of each of their staff as well. When a qualifying worker is laid off, he or she may claim a series of payments while searching for new work.
Many people argue that taking part should be a matter of personal choice, yet pooling everyone's premiums is precisely what allows the program to pay a dependable benefit to those who suddenly find themselves without a wage. A frequent objection to the scheme is that the workers who most need support are often the very ones who qualify for the least. This is because eligibility rests on the number of insurable hours a person has accumulated, and that figure depends on how steady one's employment has been.
