Employment Insurance (EI) vs. Foreign Workers

An interesting news story last night got my brain working.  Here in Canada, certain provinces have unemployment in the double digits.  Some of these provinces are hiring foreign workers to pick fruit, etc., in the summer due to the fact many Canadians think these jobs are beneath them.  Not to mention, they have a higher income on employment insurance than if they accepted one of these temporary positions. 

The part of this story that got me thinking was the government wants to "force" Canadians to take these positions so the unemployment numbers go down.  Is this a wrong expectation on the part of the government?  Not really.  People who are on EI are generally first to complain about foreign workers taking our jobs.  Yet, they are also the first ones to refuse a job because it doesn't pay as well as the EI they are receiving. Or because it is physically demanding.  Or, in their minds, demeaning, in comparison with the education they have.

Now, I have been in this boat.  It is extremely difficult to take a job that pays less than the insurance benefits you receive.  Particularly when you have a family to feed.  However, I do believe that Employment Insurance will make up the difference between a lower paying job and the claim you are currently on.  I could be wrong.  It has been many years since I asked these questions.

Basically, I think those collecting EI should have to work some of these temporary positions, with the expectation they will be "topped up" on their income if the job does not pay as much as the EI claim they are currently on.  Or, they could do other jobs -- such as keeping garbage picked up out of ditches, gutters, and parks -- that no one else has the time to do.  This is, to my way of thinking, also true of people on welfare.  There are many people collecting this social benefit who are perfectly capable of working but have many excuses why they do not.

Let's quit feeding another country's economy and feed our own.  Keep the money here.  In these tough economical times, isn't that an important thing to do?