Employment Insurance, December 2021
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Released: 2022-02-17
Approximately 636,000 Canadians received regular Employment Insurance (EI) benefits in December, down by 56,000 (-8.1%) from a month earlier.
December EI statistics reflect labour market conditions during the week of December 5 to 11, 2021.
Public health measures in early December were largely similar to those in place in November, and were among the least restrictive seen during the pandemic. The widespread emergence of the Omicron variant, and associated adjustments to public health measures, occurred later in December.
Fewer Canadians collect regular Employment Insurance benefits in December
The number of Canadians receiving regular EI benefits dropped by 56,000 (-8.1%) in December to 636,000.
According to the Labour Force Survey (LFS), unemployment held steady at 1.2 million in December, including 1.1 million Canadians who were looking for work and 100,000 who had a connection to a job, either because they were on temporary layoff or had arrangements to begin a new job in the near future.
Chart 1
Fewer regular Employment Insurance beneficiaries in December
The number of regular Employment Insurance beneficiaries decreases in all provinces
The number of regular EI beneficiaries fell in all provinces in December. British Columbia (-10.1%; -7,000) posted the largest proportional decline, followed by Ontario (-9.8%; -20,000) and Alberta (-8.7%; -7,000), while Newfoundland and Labrador (-4.4%; -2,000) and Prince Edward Island (-4.5%; -400) posted the smallest declines. December LFS results indicated that employment increased in Ontario (+47,000), decreased in Newfoundland and Labrador (-4,600), and was little changed in the other three provinces mentioned.
On a regional basis, all census metropolitan areas (CMAs) recorded a decline in the number of regular EI beneficiaries in December. The CMAs of Guelph (-16.4%; -300), Hamilton (-15.6%; -2,000) and Vancouver (-13.1%; -4,000) posted the largest percentage declines in the month.
Compared with February 2020, the number of regular EI recipients was up in all provinces in December 2021, led by Ontario (+53.7%; +65,000), Quebec (+53.2%; +54,000) and British Columbia (+43.5%; +18,000). The number of regular EI beneficiaries was closest to February 2020 levels in Prince Edward Island (+16.6%; +1,000). Among all CMAs, the Vancouver CMA (+6.5 percentage points) accounted for the largest increase in the proportion of regular EI beneficiaries in its respective province.
Bigger drop in regular Employment Insurance beneficiaries among core-aged men than core-aged women
In December, the number of core-aged (25 to 54 years) men receiving regular EI benefits fell by 21,000 (-9.2%), more than 1.5 times larger than the decrease among core-aged women (-13,000; -7.2%). According to the December LFS, core-aged men (+63,000; +1.0%) led monthly employment growth, while employment among core-aged women was little changed.
Over half of longer-term regular Employment Insurance recipients last worked in sales and service occupations or trades, transport and equipment operations and related occupations
In December, the LFS showed that 293,000 Canadians had been unemployed continuously for 27 weeks or more. At the same time, 309,000 (46.4%) EI recipients received regular EI benefits in at least 7 of the last 12 months (not seasonally adjusted). Of these beneficiaries, almost one-third were core-aged men (30.6%) and almost one-quarter were core-aged women (23.9%). By province, the proportion of EI recipients who had received regular EI benefits in at least 7 of the last 12 months ranged from 37.6% in Manitoba to 64.0% in Newfoundland and Labrador.
EI statistics provide some insights into the occupations in which the long-term unemployed last worked. Among those who received regular EI benefits in December and who received regular EI benefits in at least 10 of the previous 12 months, more than half (55.9%) last worked in either sales and service occupations (32.2%) or trades, transport and equipment operators and related occupations (23.7%) (not seasonally adjusted).
Chart 2
Sales and service occupations had the largest proportion of longer-term regular Employment Insurance recipients in December
The number of regular Employment Insurance recipients in accommodation and food services declined the most over the past 12 months
From December 2020 to December 2021, the number of regular EI recipients who last worked in accommodation and food services fell by 212,000 (-81.7%), the largest decline of any industry (not seasonally adjusted). Despite the decrease in the number of regular EI recipients, December LFS results showed that employment in this industry was 16.9% (-206,000) below its pre-pandemic February 2020 level.
Quebec and Ontario account for over three-quarters of the monthly increase in Employment Insurance claims
In December, there were 348,000 EI claims, compared with 251,000 in December 2019. The number of claims provides an indication of the number of people who could become beneficiaries. Claims data include initial and renewal claims received for any type of EI benefit, including special benefits.
The number of claims received rose from November to December in nine provinces. Quebec (+51.0%; +39,000) and Ontario (+22.1%; +19,000) accounted for over three-quarters (77.2%) of the monthly increase in EI claims. New Brunswick (-2.0%; -300) was the lone province with fewer EI claims.
Next release
January EI results, to be released on March 24, 2022, will reflect the impact on regular EI recipients following the implementation of stricter public health measures in many jurisdictions in response to the spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19.
Sustainable Development Goals
On January 1, 2016, the world officially began implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the United Nations' transformative plan of action that addresses urgent global challenges over the following 15 years. The plan is based on 17 specific sustainable development goals.
Employment Insurance statistics are an example of how Statistics Canada supports reporting on global sustainable development goals. This release will be used to help measure the following goal:
Note to readers
Employment Insurance in the context of broader COVID-19 benefit programs
No methodological changes have been made to the Employment Insurance Statistics (EIS) program over the COVID-19 pandemic period. EIS reflect the Employment Insurance (EI) program for the Labour Force Survey (LFS) reference week in each month.
Data for the October 2020 reference period and onward comprise individuals who obtained EI benefits and exclude beneficiaries of the Canada recovery benefits (Canada Recovery Benefit, Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit, and Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit).
Concepts and methodology
The analysis focuses on people who received regular EI benefits related to job loss.
EI statistics are produced from administrative data sources provided by Service Canada and Employment and Social Development Canada. These statistics may, from time to time, be affected by changes to the Employment Insurance Act or administrative procedures.
EI statistics indicate the number of people who received EI benefits and should not be confused with LFS data, which provide estimates of 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 was not insured. Other unemployed people have contributed to the program, but do not meet the eligibility criteria, such as workers who left their jobs voluntarily or those who did not accumulate enough hours of work to receive benefits.
All data in this release are seasonally adjusted, unless otherwise specified. Values for all series from March 2020 to December 2021 have been treated as outliers in determining a seasonal pattern for seasonal adjustment. For more information on seasonal adjustment, see Seasonally adjusted data – Frequently asked questions.
The number of regular EI beneficiaries for the current month and the previous month is subject to revision.
The number of beneficiaries is a measure of all people who received regular EI benefits from December 5 to 11, 2021. This period coincides with the reference week of the LFS.
EI beneficiaries by industry
The industry of EI beneficiaries is determined by integrating EI data with record of employment administrative data. For beneficiaries with more than one record of employment in the 52 weeks prior to the reference week, the records with the greatest number of hours are used. If no industry information can be found, industry information is deemed "Not classified" for the beneficiary.
A census metropolitan area (CMA) or census agglomeration (CA) is formed by one or more adjacent municipalities centred on a population centre. A CMA must have a total population of at least 100,000. A CA must have a population of at least 10,000. See Standard Geographical Classification 2016 – Definitions for more information.
Data availability
In the data tables 14-10-0004, 14-10-0005, 14-10-0007 and 14-10-0008, for the March to September 2020 reference periods, data have been suppressed because a source data file contains records for Canada Emergency Response Benefit claimants and beneficiaries who could not be identified and excluded through processing.
Next release
Data on EI for January 2022 will be released on March 24, 2022.
Products
More information about the concepts and use of Employment Insurance statistics is available in the Guide to Employment Insurance Statistics (73-506-G).
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).
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