[ Employment and Emploi et Immigration Canada Immigration Canada Employment New Programs and Services 1991-92 July 1991 Canada LM168/7/91 2 Employment — New Programs and Services 1991-92 New Program and Service Framework The new framework has four programs: I. Information and Special Initiatives, for all EIC clients; II. Employability Improvement, for worker clients; III. Labour Market Adjustment, for employer clients; IV. Community Development, for communities. I. Information and Special Initiatives Program: Working with Clients, Partners and the Community Information and Special Initiatives, with four components, brings together front-line CEC services, such as the Labour Exchange and Service Needs Determination, and Labour Market Information and the research activities of the former Innovations program. Labour Market Information offers information to worker and employer clients and the community at large on job openings, labour market conditions, available training courses and EIC programs and services. Service Needs Determination is a means of early identification of clients needing further assistance, mostly from the Employability Improvement program. The Labour Exchange will continue to be a clearing-house for information on job vacancies. It provides employers with an opportunity to display descriptions of the type of staff they need, and it provides workers with a focal point from which they can learn about job openings. Innovations, administered at National Headquarters, offers financial assistance to support research and development that will lead to solutions to labour market problems. II. Employability Improvement Program: Assistance to Workers Components under this program are designed for CEC worker clients, including UI claimants, who are facing serious labour market difficulty. The program helps individual Canadians who need EIC assistance to overcome their disadvantages in the labour market. Employability Improvement builds on many of our former programs and services. Integrated into the program are options of the Job Entry and Job Development programs, some of the options under Skill Investment and Skill Shortages, Income Support, as well as Employment Services such as Employment Counselling and Employment Assistance. Who are our worker clients? Our clients include those facing serious labour market difficulty in the following groups: UI claimants tar­ geted under the Claimant Re-employment Strategy; designated group members (women, persons with disabilities, visible minorities, Aboriginal people); displaced older workers; unskilled youth; client groups identified in joint agreements such as the federal-provincial/territorial Labour Force Develop­ ment Agreements; and client groups identified locally. Rather than depending on national program criteria, the CEC and our community partners will establish priority groups, known to be most in need of help, within local labour markets. Local priorities will support national client strategies focussed on the above groups. Priorization will be part of the plan­ ning process at the local level. Clients may be selected for EIC program assistance if they meet three pre-requisites: the presence of serious labour market difficulty; the client’s motivation to work with us; and the agreement by the client and CEC staff, or an authorized external source, on an action plan that sets out the steps necessary for the client to become employed. Employment — New Programs and Services 1991-92 3 Purchase of Training and Income Support Employability Improvement: Components 4. 1. Employment Counselling is an ongoing, direct service that will continue to use the client-centred approach to help people who are facing labour market difficulties. Purchase of Training. Purchased training courses from both public and private sources continues to be an important means to help our unemployed clients learn new job skills, get academic upgrading or language training. EIC purchases several types of training courses offered through training institutions, corporations, groups or businesses. It is expected that private sector purchases for training will increase. Employment counsellors work with clients to assess their employment needs and to define realistic employment goals. Within the new framework, counselling becomes an important link to further needs-based programming for clients. Clients participate on a one-to-one basis, or in a group. Complementary community resources for employ­ ment counselling may also be purchased by the CEC. Implementation: ongoing 2. Project-Based Training provides clients with a combination of classroom and on-the-job training to assist them in gaining the skills and training they need to enter and stay in the workforce. This component represents an amalgamation of the Entry, Re-entry, Severely Employment Disadvantaged and Re-employment options of the CJS Job Entry program. Each project offers training in areas such as: technical skills, life skills, interpersonal skills, and effective­ ness skills. They also assist clients to find employment at the completion of training. Implementation: July 1, 1991 3. Wage Reimbursement* provides employers with a wage subsidy to hire selected clients. The objective of this component is for clients to obtain long-term employment with the employer after train­ ing is completed. This component is similar to and replaces the Individually Subsidized Job option of the Job Development and Continuing Employment option of the CJS Skill Investment Program. Implementation: December 1, 1991 * The name of this component may be changed. Eligible courses include vocational training (skills training), preparation for vocational training (all levels), preparation for employment, language training, apprenticeship training, and occupational orientation. The component includes two basic types of purchase arrangements: EIC purchases (replaces Direct Purchase option): • government-to-govemment purchases, arranged through federal-provincial/territorial Labour Force Development Agreements; and • CEC purchases, which include all other training arrangements. Private sector purchases: • include Coordinating Group purchases; • provide funding to non-government groups such as local-level boards and Aboriginal Management Boards to purchase training arrangements. Implementation: July 1, 1991 Income Support. Clients referred to approved training courses may be eligible for income support under one of two systems: • Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits and supplementary allowances; or • Basic training allowances and supplementary allowances, under the authority of the National Training Regulations or the CJS policy state­ ment. 4 Employment — New Programs and Services 1991-92 Fee-payer clients, for whom EIC approves training but does not pay course costs, may continue to receive UI benefits during their periods of approved training. 7. Mobility Assistance includes Travel Assistance and Relocation Assistance to help pay the costs of finding new employment and relocating an individual or a group of workers. Implementation: July 1, 1991 Travel Assistance helps unemployed people to look for jobs in areas where there are indications of better employment opportunities. It also assists the client in travelling to temporary employment. 5. Employment Assistance and Outreach. Under this component, the CEC manager has the flexibility to broaden and extend certain EIC programs and services to additional CEC clients. Short-term interventions, that usually last less than three weeks, include Job Finding Clubs, Job Search Strategies, Group Employment Counselling, and Diagnostic Assessment. On-going interventions include Special Approaches and Community-based Employment Assistance. Outreach, as a part of this component, will continue to deliver employment assistance such as counselling, placement and referral activities through organiza­ tions in the community. Implementation: Employment Assistance, January 1, 1991; (became part of the Employability Improvement Program July 1, 1991); Outreach, ongoing 6. Youth Initiatives provide a spectrum of interventions for young Canadians with specific employment and training needs. It serves two goals; to encourage young people to complete high school, and to help students make the transition from school to work. The new component continues all EIC youth options under Job Entry such as Challenge, Co-operative Education, and the Stay-in-School Initiative. Implementation: ongoing Relocation Assistance helps workers to move to areas where they have found a job or where employment opportunities are greater. Implementation (for UI claimants): subject to consul­ tation with the Canadian Labour Force Development Board 8. Delivery Assistance has no participants as such. It allows for contracts with coordinators or employers to obtain expertise which EIC staff does not have, to assist them with projects, participant training and programming. Beneficiaries of Delivery Assistance must be the coordinator, employers or participants. Delivery Assistance supports the development and delivery of any component of the Employability Improvement, Labour Market Adjustment or Community Development programs. Implementation: ongoing III. Labour Market Adjustment Program: Working with Employers The Labour Market Adjustment Program combines existing and new components in a way that encour­ ages employers to assume primary responsibility for skills and human resource adjustment in the work­ place. It is hoped that private sector training expen­ ditures will increase as well as the quality of the training provided to their employees. The six-component program combines new and exist­ ing options and offers the following improvements: • expanded assistance to help more employers become self-reliant in identifying and meeting their workplace skill adjustment needs, includ­ ing a broader range of initiatives in support of Human Resource Planning; Employment — New Programs and Services 1991-92 • training assistance that is more focussed on training design and delivery, rather than wage subsidies; • CEC staff will be able to negotiate partnership arrangements with employers as well as financial support within the context of local priorities. Human Resource Planning (HRP) assistance is available to selected employers to assist them in becoming more self-reliant in analyzing human resource issues and formulating appropriate responses. The CEC will work with employers to identify skills needed by employees to help develop a strategy that ensures current and future employees have these skills. Human Resource Planning includes: local HRP assis­ tance to help employers establish a human resource planning capability within their firm; sectoral HRP initiative assistance; seed funding for selected sectoral HRP-driven initiatives; and an HRP recognition and awards initiative. Implementation: ongoing — all HRP activities con­ solidated into one component July 1, 1991; training for CEC staff commencing fall/winter 1991. Workplace-Based Training support is being focused more on sharing costs associated with the design and delivery of training for an employer’s staff. This component includes the Skill Shortages and Skill Investment programs. The maximum wage subsidy rate is being reduced or eliminated in some instances unless the training is for workers who are at risk of lay-off, or for the career progression of workers who are members of an equity group. It is expected that EIC will be able to lever increased private sector training expenditures while contribut­ ing to the improved quality and effectiveness of the training being provided to the employer’s workers. Priorities will be established locally instead of restricting eligibility to a specific set of designated occupations. Implementation: December 1991 5 Work Sharing will continue as a UI-based develop­ mental assistance program that provides income support to workers who are voluntarily working a temporarily reduced work week. The main intent is still to avert temporary lay-offs. However, where appropriate, it may be possible to build in a training component during the off-work hours. Implementation: ongoing Industrial Adjustment Service will retain its current focus on helping employers and employees jointly research, develop and implement action plans related to their specific labour market adjustment situation. Cost sharing may be negotiated in support of the operations and activities of the labour/ management adjustment committee. Implementation: ongoing Employment Equity activities will continue to focus on employers, particularly those covered by the Employment Equity Act and the Federal Contractors Program, to assist them in the implementation of comprehensive plans designed to improve the status of women and minorities in more than 1,700 affected companies. Linkages between employers, unions and designated group organizations and our programs will also promote the achievement of employment equity measures. Implementation: ongoing Labour Market Adjustment Grants will incorpo­ rate the existing Training Trust Fund Grants. A Training Enhancement Grant will be available to help support improvements in the quality of workplace­ based training design and delivery, or to promote the adoption of a corporate training culture. Implementation: ongoing; Training Enhancement Grant, April 1992 6 Employment — New Programs and Services 1991-92 IV. Community Development Program: Working with Communities The Community Development Program is designed to assist communities in difficulty towards selfsufficiency and to increase employment opportunities in these communities. Community Futures continues to support an inte­ grated approach to local labour market problems in rural and remote communities. Support is designed to build community capacity to manage change and adjustment, to support the development of local insti­ tutions and to implement locally designed strategies. Community Futures Committees assess the local situation, develop and oversee the implementation of plans for local development and adjustment. In addition to having access to other EIC programs and services such as Purchase of Training to assist in implementing their strategies, CF Committees can elect to implement a Business Development Centre and seek additional financial support through the Community Initiatives Fund. • Business Development Centres provide techni­ cal and financial support to local small business and entrepreneurs to create and maintain local employment. • The Community Initiatives Fund provides sup­ port to complete the financing of projects that are critical to the success and implementation of local plans and which could not be implemented otherwise. Implementation: ongoing. Self-Employment Assistance is planned to support unemployed people, either UI claimants or people eli­ gible for social assistance, to start their own business by providing income and technical support through the early stages of business creation. Self-Employment Assistance will replace the SelfEmployment Incentive Option in Community Futures areas and will be expanded to other areas of high unemployment where a community-based delivery system is in place. Community Futures Committees will be responsible for implementing and supporting Self- Employment Assistance in their areas. Implementation: subject to consultation with the Canadian Labour Force Development Board. Local Projects will incorporate the existing Job Development General Projects and the UI Job Creation Projects. Job Development Projects will be more flexible in accepting participants who can bene­ fit from the project and who are at risk of long-term unemployment. This flexibility replaces the require­ ment of 24 weeks of unemployment out of the last 30 weeks. Projects will continue to combine training with work experience that will assist participants to improve their position in the labour market. In Community Futures areas, projects will also be considered on the basis of their contribution to long-term job creation in the community. Implementation: April 1, 1992; increased flexibility for participant eligibility, July 1, 1991.