New employment rules for high jobless areas.

OTTAWA -- The federal government announced changes to the Employment Insurance program that will affect more than 220,000 workers annually.

The new measures include:

* Three pilot projects in regions of high unemployment (10 percent or higher), that will test the labour market impact of: enabling individuals new to the labour market or returning after an extended absence to access El benefits after 840 hours of work (rather than 910) when linked with El employment programs;

* calculating El benefits based on the "best 14 weeks" of earnings over the 52 weeks preceding a claim for benefits. This will mean that for individuals with sporadic work patterns, EI benefit levels will better reflect their full-time work patterns; and

* increasing the working-while-on-claim threshold to allow individuals to earn the greater of $75 or 40 percent of benefits in an effort to encourage people to take work without a reduction in their benefits.

The pilot project introduced last year providing workers with five additional weeks of EI regular benefits in regions of high unemployment (10 percent or more) will be continued for a second year. The pilot project is designed to help address the annual income gap faced by workers with limited work alternatives.

The EI "transitional boundaries" provisions in the EI economic regions of Madawaska-Charlotte, New Brunswick, and Lower St. Lawrence/North Shore, Quebec will be extended an additional year to October 2006. Meanwhile, a review of the El economic regions will be conducted during this period.

"EI is part of the solution. Longer term solutions require coordinated action by governments, industry and communities. I am challenging our partners-the provinces, territories, communities and industry to build upon Government of Canada initiatives by moving forward with their own strategies and investments," said Lucienne Robillard, Minister Human Resources and Skills Development.