Employment Insurance
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In April, 598,400 people received regular Employment Insurance (EI) benefits, down by 6,500 (-1.1%) from March and the seventh consecutive monthly decline.
The number of beneficiaries fell in six provinces, with the fastest declines in British Columbia and Alberta.
Higher number of claims
To receive EI benefits, individuals must first submit a claim. The number of claims provides an indication of the number of people who could become beneficiaries.
The number of initial and renewal claims increased 2.8% in April to 234,000. This increase followed three months of declines.
The largest advance in the number of claims occurred in Prince Edward Island (+5.2%), Alberta (+4.6%), New Brunswick (+4.1%) and British Columbia (+3.1%). At the same time, the number of claims declined in Manitoba (-2.6%).
Note to readers
All data in this release are seasonally adjusted unless otherwise specified.
Each month, Statistics Canada provides analysis of the current labour market situation, using Employment Insurance (EI) statistics and other sources. Earlier this month, the Labour Force Survey (LFS) provided a picture of overall labour market conditions, including unemployment, total employment and characteristics of those affected by changes in the labour market.
In this release, Statistics Canada provides additional sub-provincial detail through the EI statistics. Details by industry will follow with data from the Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours.
EI statistics are produced from an administrative data source provided by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada. These statistics may, from time to time, be affected by changes to the Employment Insurance Act or administrative procedures. The number of regular beneficiaries and the number of claims received for March and April are preliminary. In this release, large centres correspond to those with a population of 10,000 or more.
The number of beneficiaries is a measure of all persons who received EI benefits from April 10 to 16. This period coincides with the reference week of the LFS.
EI statistics indicate the number of people who received EI benefits, and should not be confused with data coming from the LFS, which provides information on the total number of unemployed people.
There is always a certain proportion of unemployed people who do not qualify for benefits. Some unemployed people have not contributed to the program because they have not worked in the past 12 months or their employment is not insured. Other unemployed people have contributed to the program but do not meet the eligibility criteria, such as workers who left their job voluntarily or those who did not accumulate enough hours of work to receive benefits.
The change in the number of regular EI beneficiaries reflects various situations, including people becoming beneficiaries, people going back to work, and people exhausting their regular benefits.
Faster declines in beneficiaries in British Columbia and Alberta
The number of people receiving regular Employment Insurance benefits declined in six provinces in April, with the largest decreases in British Columbia and Alberta.
In British Columbia, the number of beneficiaries fell for the seventh consecutive month, down by 3.7% to 67,000 in April. In Alberta, the number also decreased for the seventh consecutive month, falling by 3.7% to 37,600. In Newfoundland and Labrador, the number of beneficiaries declined 1.4% to 35,800.
At the same time, there were more people receiving regular benefits in Prince Edward Island (+1.8%), Manitoba (+1.5%), New Brunswick (+1.4%) and Ontario (+0.9%).
Sub-provincial and demographic overview
Employment Insurance data by sub-provincial region, sex and age are not seasonally adjusted and are therefore compared on a year-over-year basis.
Continued year-over-year declines in most large centres
Between April 2010 and April 2011, the number of people receiving regular benefits at the national level fell by 97,500 (-12.8%). Declines occurred in 125 of the 143 large centres (see map). Large centres are those with a population of 10,000 or more.
The five large centres in Newfoundland and Labrador all had fewer beneficiaries in April. The fastest decrease occurred in St. John's, where the number fell 9.5% to 5,000. This was the 13th consecutive month with a year-over-year decline.
The number of regular beneficiaries fell in 25 of 33 large centres in Quebec between April 2010 and April 2011, with the fastest declines occurring in Saint-Georges, La Tuque and Granby. Over the same period, there was a notable increase in Sept-Îles. In Montréal, the number of beneficiaries fell by 12.8% to 64,100, the largest year-over-year decrease in over 12 months. In the census metropolitan area of Québec, the number of beneficiaries declined by 14.7% to 11,000, the fourth consecutive year-over-year decrease.
In Ontario, 38 of the 41 large centres posted a decrease. The most notable declines were in Greater Sudbury, Tillsonburg, Guelph, Thunder Bay and Belleville. In Toronto, the number fell by 19.6% to 72,000. Toronto has maintained a similar pace of decline over the last 11 months.
In Manitoba, the number of regular beneficiaries was down or unchanged in all four large centres. The fastest rate of decline occurred in Winnipeg, where the number fell 21.3% to 6,700, the eighth consecutive monthly year-over-year decrease.
In Saskatchewan, the number of beneficiaries fell in seven of eight large centres. The fastest declines occurred in Saskatoon and Regina. In Saskatoon, the number declined 31.9% to 1,900, the largest of five consecutive monthly year-over-year declines. In Regina, the number of beneficiaries decreased 28.5% to 1,200.
In Alberta, all 12 large centres had fewer beneficiaries in April compared with April 2010. The pace of decline was above 35% in Grande Prairie, Wetaskiwin, Camrose and Red Deer. In Calgary, the number fell 31.4% to 12,100, while in Edmonton, it declined 20.0% to 12,700. Both Calgary and Edmonton continued the year-over-year downward trend in beneficiaries that began in April 2010.
In British Columbia, the number of beneficiaries fell in 24 of 25 large centres in the 12 months to April. The fastest declines were in Fort St. John, Prince George, Kamloops, Quesnel and Dawson Creek. In Vancouver, the number of people receiving benefits fell 22.4% to 28,500. In Victoria, the number of beneficiaries decreased 12.2% to 3,500, similar to the pace of decline observed over the previous 10 months.
Demographic groups
Between April 2010 and April 2011, the number of male and female regular beneficiaries fell at a similar pace.
The number of male regular beneficiaries fell by 12.9% (-64,500) to 435,800, continuing the trend in monthly year-over-year declines which started in March 2010.
Among men, the fastest rates of decline occurred for those aged 25 to 54 (-15.2%) and youths under 25 (-12.3%). Men aged 55 and over also saw a decline in the number of beneficiaries (-5.2%).
The number of women receiving regular benefits decreased by 12.6% (-33,000) to 228,200 during this year-long period. This was the largest of 11 consecutive monthly year-over-year declines.
Among women, the number of beneficiaries decreased by 17.1% for youths under 25, and by 14.1% for women aged 25 to 54. The number of female beneficiaries aged 55 and over fell 5.5%, the second consecutive monthly year-over-year decline for that group.
Available on CANSIM: tables 276-0001 to 276-0006, 276-0009, 276-0011, 276-0015 and 276-0016.
Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 2604.
Data tables are also now available online. From the Key resource module of our website under Summary tables, choose Subject then Labour.
Data on Employment Insurance for May will be released on July 21.
A set of maps, Employment Insurance Statistics Maps, April 2011 (73-002-X, free), is now available online. The maps show percent changes in the number of people receiving regular EI benefits for all census metropolitan areas and census agglomerations in Canada. From the Key resource module of our website, under Publications, choose All subjects, then Labour.
For more information, or to order data, contact Client Services (toll-free 1-866-873-8788; 613-951-4090; labour@statcan.gc.ca). To enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Kevin Forneris (613-951-8235), Labour Statistics Division.
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