Ontario’s job training shuts out half of unemployed

If the best route out of poverty is a job, a commission studying Ontario’s welfare system thinks the province can do more to help its most vulnerable residents find work.
Part of the problem is that almost half of Employment Ontario’s $1.2 billion worth of training programs are available only to people receiving employment insurance benefits.
And yet, barely half of the province’s jobless — and less than a quarter in Toronto — are eligible for EI.

As a result, swaths of job-seekers, including more than 550,000 households living on social assistance, are shut out of these programs, the commissioners note.


• Just 17 per cent of people receiving services from Employment Ontario are on social assistance.

 • Half of Employment Ontario's $1.2 billion in training programs are available only to those eligible for Employment Insurance.

 Read the full story by Laurie Monsebraaten here: The Star