Author Description

This paper reviews the unemployment insurance (UI) programs available to Atlantic fishermen and plant employees and analyzes their experience with UI from 1981-90. The discussion relates this experience to the design features of UI, and draws conclusions on how UI might be made to work more effectively for the fishery. The paper reviews the regular UI and fishing benefits UI available to those in the fishery and compares the design features of the two. A discussion of the weaknesses of UI programs for the fishery is given. UI experience in the fishery is analyzed using cross-sectional data and is compared with experience of those in other sectors of the Atlantic Province's economy. Individual experiences using longitudinal data files of people who working in the fishery are also included. Appendices include detailed tables, a chronology of changes to the UI program from 1940-93, and a description of the methodology of data construction.