The Fraser Institute report issued on Wednesday contains food for thought.
Bond Papers already noted the information on the share of provincial revenue that is transferred from the federal government. The earlier post contains links to the news release and the report in pdf format.
The report contains a table comparing Employment Insurance (EI) contributions to benefits paid, by province for Fiscal Year 2003. Newfoundland and Labrador generated $233, 000, 000 in contributions.
However, recipients claimed $752, 000, 000 in benefits that year. The total included $540, 000, 000 in regular EI benefits and $212, 000, 000 in special benefits. The latter category includes maternity and parental benefits, compassionate benefits and benefits paid to fisheries workers.
All four Atlantic provinces received more in EI benefits than in contributions generated, but Newfoundland and Labrador was by far the leader. The total (benefits less contributions) for the three Maritime provinces combined was $483, 000, 000.
In some respects, the low level of contribution in Newfoundland and Labrador reflects the relatively low average per capita income. In 2005, the average per capita income was $25, 872 in the province.