The number of Canadians receiving regular Employment Insurance (EI) benefits in December fell by 8,100 (-2.0 per cent) to 398,000, continuing the downward trend in the number of regular EI beneficiaries observed since July 2022, reported Statistics Canada on Thursday.
Andrea Piacquadio
According to the Labour Force Survey (LFS), the unemployment rate declined 0.1 percentage points to 5.0 per cent in December, just above the record low of 4.9 per cent observed in June and July, said the federal agency.
“The number of people aged 25 to 54 years receiving regular EI benefits fell by 6,400 (-2.5 per cent) in December, split evenly between men and women. This decrease accounted for over three-quarters of the total decline in the number of beneficiaries,” it said.
“The number of core-aged men and women receiving regular EI benefits trended downward since July 2022, though this decline was more pronounced for women. This steady decline contributed to the 41.5 per cent decrease in the number of core-aged women receiving regular EI benefits in December compared with December 2021. The number of core-aged men receiving regular EI benefits fell by 32.3 per cent during the same period.
“Fewer young men aged 15 to 24 years (-5.1 per cent; -1,400) collected regular EI benefits in December for the seventh month in a row. Little changed in the number of young women receiving benefits after 10 months of decline. The number of people aged 55 years and older receiving regular EI benefits also was little changed.”
Compared with November, the number of people receiving regular EI benefits fell in six provinces in December. For the second consecutive month, Ontario (-3.8 per cent; -4,300) had the largest proportional decrease and accounted for over half of the decrease in December. Other notable proportional declines occurred in Saskatchewan (-3.2 per cent; -400), Alberta (-2.8 per cent; -1,200) and Quebec (-2.2 per cent; -2,000). In contrast, the number of regular EI beneficiaries in December increased slightly in Prince Edward Island (+1.8 per cent; +100) and British Columbia (+1.6 per cent; +700) and were little changed in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, explained StatsCan.
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