1. The competent institution of a Member State whose legislation makes the acquisition, retention or recovery of the right to benefits conditional upon the completion of either periods of insurance, of employment or of activity as a self-employed person shall, to the extent necessary, take account of periods of insurance, employment or activity as a self-employed person completed under the legislation of any other Member State as though they were periods of insurance, employment or activity as a self-employed person completed under the legislation which it administers.

Improve the combined incentive effects of taxes and benefits, reduce high marginal effective tax rates in order to eliminate unemployment and poverty traps, cut the tax burden on low-paid labour, improve the administration of eligibility criteria for benefits whilst preserving an adequate level of social protection, and ensure the efficiency of job search assistance for benefit recipients (see also Employment Guideline 8).

Take active steps to improve the combined incentive effects of taxes and benefits, reduce high marginal effective tax rates in order to eliminate unemployment and poverty traps, cut the tax burden on (deletion) labour -including social contributions- and especially on low-paid labour, link tax benefits to job creation in particular for women, disabled and older workers, improve the administration of eligibility criteria for benefits whilst preserving an adequate level of social protection, and ensure the efficiency of job search assistance for benefit recipients (see also Employment Guideline 8).

5. Considers that the priority of coordination between macroeconomic and labour market policies has to be strengthened and encourages particularly coordination aiming at lowering the non-direct cost of labour at the lower end of the wage scale, provided that this reduction is brought into balance with other forms of funding (for example indirect taxation or taxation on energy consumption) in order to prevent a deterioration in social services; encourages the shifting towards active labour market measures that are accompanied by tailor-made training and/or placement help, strengthening and extending employment stability and social securi ...[+++]ty as well as the opportunity for all unemployed to receive retraining;

The federal government, in the backgrounder released for Bill C-50, described this group as “Canadians who have worked and paid EI premiums for a significant period of time and have previously made limited use of EI regular benefits” (Government of Canada, “Government of Canada intends to table legislation to extend Employment Insurance benefits for long-tenured workers” , News release and Backgrounder, 14 September 2009.

In that period there were also two different methods of calculating how fishing income would be included in the EI benefit rate calculation for people who claim regular benefits but also have fishing income.