Income support and other support services
- We recommend that mechanisms to build up entitlement and eligibility for UI be
reviewed to take into account changing working conditions, including the increase in
part-time employment, multiple job holding, short duration jobs, low-paying jobs,
working from home, and self-employment.
- To improve the employability of social assistance recipients, we recommend that
federal and provincial/territorial governments and labour market partners review
social assistance programs to ensure:
- access to information about services through one-stop information systems,
- access to high-quality employment services regardless of income support
received,
- a holistic approach to the provision of training, and
- access to training without losing benefits.
- We recommend that federal and provincial/territorial government policies and
practices, as well as the attitudes of labour market partners toward support services
(especially child care, equipment and facilities for people with disabilities,
information about support services and their accessibility for immigrants and
members of visible minorities), be closely examined to ensure that they are consistent
and that they enhance people's ability to make effective transitions into employment,
rather than prevent them from doing so.
Education
- We recommend that the provincial/territorial ministries of education and the Council
of Ministers of Education Canada adopt a generic model of an education system that
facilitates the school-to-work transition while respecting the existing
provincial/territorial jurisdictions.
- We recommend that the Employability Skills Profile be used as a basis for developing
curricula in secondary schools throughout Canada.
- We recommend that provincial/territorial ministries of education, school boards, and
schools develop or continue to develop diagnostic tools and support services for
helping youth and adults undertake self-assessments and make appropriate decisions
regarding their career paths.