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Gainfully unemployed
Broadcast Date: Sept. 21, 1976
In 1976, six years after an overhaul to the unemployment insurance system, the changes are really paying off – for claimants who know how to work it. The single dad who wants to focus on raising his son, the fishery worker who makes quilts during the off-season and the carefree young skiers in Banff: they're all freeloaders whose lifestyles are funded by UI, charges Eric Malling of CBC-TV's The Fifth Estate. In this clip, labour minister Bryce Mackasey defends the program, citing a ripoff rate of only two per cent.Gainfully unemployed
• In February 1977 the Unemployment Insurance Commission announced that it would be stepping up its efforts to prevent fraud. It reported that in 1976 there had been 445,884 overpayment cases worth $62.8 million - an increase of over $14 million above the previous year.• An estimated 41 per cent of the overpayments were made to people who, upon investigation, were not eligible for UI. Another 39 per cent of overpayments were to people who failed to report other income.
Gainfully unemployed
Medium: Television
Program: The Fifth Estate
Broadcast Date: Sept. 21, 1976
Guest(s): Costas Halazabrackas, Doris Leblanc, Bryce Mackasey, Jim McCormick
Reporter: Eric Malling
Duration: 20:31
Last updated:
Feb. 19, 2009
Radio
27:01
In 1945, a panel of military men and women discuss unemployment insurance as part of Canada's social security system.
Television
13:55
A family of four tries to make ends meet on unemployment insurance payments of $28 per week in 1958.
Gainfully unemployed.
The CBC Digital Archives Website.
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Last updated: Feb. 19, 2009.
[Page consulted on March 21, 2010.]