The Fall and Rise of Developmental Uses of UI Funds

This paper traces the history of various 'developmental uses' of the Canadian unemployment insurance fund since their inception in 1977. These uses - for training, job creation, and worksharing - reflected important reorientations in the program towards labour market as opposed to welfare goals. Program assessments suggested by 1980 that the use of unemployment insurance funds for job creation and worksharing was inefficient. Nonetheless, these programs were revived in much the same form in 1981. The paper argues that their revival was a crisis response and probably serves to weaken the program by reinforcing ad hoc policy-making and increasing administrative complexity.