The Trudeau government is rolling out a 75 percent wage subsidy to help employers keep workers on the payroll through the crisis. Those who’ve already lost their income can turn to the new Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), which will provide $2,000 a month for up to four months.
Meanwhile, those who are already receiving employment insurance will continue to do so and be able to transition to the CERB if they’re unable to find work when their benefits run out due to the health emergency, according to the Department of Finance.
It remains unclear, however, whether some of those who were already unemployed before the onset of the crisis and students about to graduate will be able to access the emergency income support.
“It’s a huge oversight,” says David MacDonald, senior economist at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
Some government sources have indicated some students would be able to apply for the CERB. In an update to her website on Friday, federal cabinet minister Maryam Monsef said students who’ve earned $5,000 in the past year would qualify for the aid.
The government’s Emergency Response Act, which introduced the CERB, says workers must have had income of at least $5,000 in 2019 or in the 12-month period preceding their application in order to qualify. The income must have come from employment, self-employment or EI or Quebec maternity and parental benefits.
That’s good news for students who’ve managed to hold on to part-time jobs while in school, MacDonald says. But, he adds, what about the new graduates who have a job offer lined up for May that may unravel amid the current economic cataclysm?
