The number of Canadians receiving regular Employment Insurance (EI) benefits rose by 9,800 (+2.5 per cent) to 399,000 in May, the first increase since July 2022. This was driven by increases in Quebec (+10.2 per cent) and British Columbia (+6.1 per cent). Meanwhile, the number of regular EI beneficiaries fell in the four Atlantic provinces, according to a report released Thursday by Statistics Canada.
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“According to the Labour Force Survey (LFS), the unemployment rate in Canada rose 0.2 percentage points to 5.2 per cent in May 2023, the first increase since August 2022,” said the federal agency.
“On a year-over-year basis, the number of people collecting regular EI benefits was down by 21.3 per cent (-108,000) in May 2023, primarily due to declines from July to November 2022. From November 2022 to April 2023, the number of regular EI recipients had remained at or near record lows (outside of the period when the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit was in place from March to September 2020).”
The report said the number of men receiving regular EI benefits increased by 4.4 per cent (+11,000) in May, accounting for the entire monthly increase. While there was little change overall in the number of women receiving regular EI benefits, there was a slight decrease among women aged 55 years and older (-1.1 per cent; -500).
“In May, more young men aged 15 to 24 years (+18.7 per cent; +4,500) collected regular EI benefits compared with April, contributing to over two-fifths (46.1 per cent) of the overall monthly increase. This was the first significant monthly increase in the number of male youth collecting regular EI benefits since May 2022. Likewise, the number of male regular EI beneficiaries aged 25 to 54 years increased by 3.4 per cent (+5,000) in May 2023, the second increase for this group in three months. Among men aged 55 years and older, the number of beneficiaries increased by 1.5 per cent (+1,100) in May, the first increase since July 2022,” added the report.
Mario Toneguzzi
Mario Toneguzzi is Managing Editor of Canada’s Podcast. He has more than 40 years of experience as a daily newspaper writer, columnist, and editor. He was named in 2021 as one of the Top 10 Business Journalists in the World by PR News – the only Canadian to make the list)
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