The Daily, Tuesday, February 21, 2006. Employment Insurance

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Employment Insurance

December 2005 (preliminary)

Previous release

In December, the estimated number of Canadians receiving regular Employment Insurance benefits fell 0.6% from November to 492,570 (seasonally adjusted), and was down 5.3% from December 2004. This was the fourth consecutive monthly decline, continuing a downward trend that began in late 2003.

Most provinces showed declines in December, with especially significant drops in New Brunswick (-3.5%), British Columbia (-2.2%) and Ontario (-1.8%).

Regular benefit payments in December totalled $688.8 million, while the number of people making initial and renewal claims was 236,500.

Note: Employment Insurance Statistics Program data are produced from an administrative data source and may, from time to time, be affected by changes to the Employment Insurance Act or administrative procedures.

Employment Insurance statistics

Dec. 2005

Nov. 2005

Dec. 2004

Nov. to Dec. 2005

Dec. 2004 to Dec. 2005

seasonally adjusted

% change

Regular beneficiaries

492,570^p

495,700^r

520,400

-0.6

-5.3

Regular benefits paid ($ millions)

688.8^p

685.9^r

712.1

0.4

-3.3

Initial and renewal claims received ('000)

236.5^p

226.3^r

247.1

4.5

-4.3

unadjusted

All beneficiaries ('000)¹

812.7^p

734.3^p

846.6

Regular beneficiaries ('000)

513.8^p

440.8^p

548.6

Initial and renewal claims received ('000)

307.0

278.4

327.0

Payments ($ millions)

1,153.6

1,050.1

1,200.9

year-to-date (January to December)

2005

2004

2004 to 2005

% change

Claims received ('000)

2,832.4

2,849.3

-0.6

Payments ($ millions)

14,692.5

14,970.3

-1.9

r.	Revised.
p.	Preliminary.
1.	"All beneficiaries" includes all claimants receiving regular benefits (for example, as a result of layoff) or special benefits (for example, as a result of illness) and are representative of data for the Labour Force Survey reference week which is usually the week containing the 15th of the month.

The number of beneficiaries is a measure of all persons who received Employment Insurance benefits from the 4^th to the 10^th of the month. This coincides with the reference week of the Labour Force Survey. The regular benefit payments series measures the total of all monies received by individuals for the entire month.

Number of beneficiaries receiving regular benefits

December 2005^p

November to December 2005

December 2004 to December 2005

seasonally adjusted

% change

Canada

492,570

-0.6

-5.3

Newfoundland and Labrador

37,630

0.8

0.6

Prince Edward Island

7,610

-1.3

-4.2

Nova Scotia

28,010

-0.6

-6.5

New Brunswick

31,640

-3.5

-7.6

Quebec

173,440

0.4

-0.7

Ontario

127,710

-1.8

-2.2

Manitoba

11,370

-0.8

-6.3

Saskatchewan

9,770

2.7

-13.2

Alberta

19,310

1.0

-26.7

British Columbia

45,680

-2.2

-17.7

Yukon Territory

870

1.2

-2.2

Northwest Territories

790

0.0

8.2

Nunavut

410

2.5

p.	Preliminary.
Note:	The number of beneficiaries includes all claimants who received regular benefits for the Labour Force Survey reference week, usually containing the 15th day of the month.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 2604.

Data on Employment Insurance for January will be released on March 28.

For general information or to order data, contact Client Services at 613-951-4090 or, call toll free 1-866-873-8788; (labour@statcan.gc.ca). To enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Gilles Groleau (613-951-4091), Labour Statistics Division.