CRFA pushes to protect entry-level jobs amidst CPP changes

OTTAWA, Dec. 20 /CNW/ - Raising Canada Pension Plan premiums will increase retirement income for middle- to high-income earners at the expense of lower-income earners - putting entry-level jobs at risk in the process. This is the message the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association - representing an industry with more than one million employees - delivered to the federal Minister of Finance and all provincial finance ministers.

The Ministers have already identified that retirement income inadequacy is concentrated among those who earn middle to high incomes. Raising what lower-income earners and their employers pay into the program will not increase these workers' retirement benefits - Canada's Old Age Security (OAS) and Guaranteed Income Supplement will replace their income anyway.

"It is unfair to propose across-the-board increases in CPP premiums when the objective is to provide enhanced benefits for higher-income earners, who may not have adequately saved for retirement," said CRFA President and CEO Garth Whyte. "This approach will reduce take-home pay for lower-income employees and jeopardize jobs, particularly for youth."

Restaurants and other foodservice businesses create 18 per cent of all jobs held by those under the age of 25, and nearly half of the foodservice industry's workforce is under 25.  Youth employers are buckling under the weight of mandatory wage cost hikes in many provinces, and are facing employment insurance (EI) premium increases in 2011 and beyond. Piling on additional costs through higher CPP contributions only further impedes the industry's ability to create jobs.

For further information:

Prasanthi Vasanthakumar, Communications Specialist, 1-800-387-5649, ext. 4254 or [email protected].