Employment Insurance, September 2025
Released: 2025-11-20
The number of Canadians receiving regular Employment Insurance (EI) benefits (-1.1%; -6,200) edged down to 544,000 in September, the second consecutive month of slight declines. The number of beneficiaries had trended upwards earlier in 2025, increasing by 66,000 (+13.5%) from January to July.
Data from the Labour Force Survey indicate that the unemployment rate was 7.1% in September, unchanged from August, but up from 6.6% in January 2025.
In general, variations in the number of EI beneficiaries receiving regular benefits can reflect changes in the circumstances of different groups of people, including new beneficiaries, individuals going back to work, those exhausting their regular benefits, and others who no longer receive benefits for various reasons.
Chart 1
Number of regular Employment Insurance beneficiaries down from July to September, following an upward trend over first half of 2025
Number of regular Employment Insurance beneficiaries down among core-aged women and men, while it is up among older women
In September, the number of people receiving regular EI benefits fell among core-aged (25 to 54 years old) women (-3.4%; -4,800), core-aged men (-1.2%; -2,500) and young women aged 15 to 24 (-2.3%; -300). These declines were partially offset by an increase among women aged 55 and older (+3.4%; +1,900).
In the 12 months ending in September, there were increases across all major demographic groups, with core-aged women (+18.9%; +22,000) and core-aged men (+8.7%; +17,000) recording the largest increases.
Fewer regular Employment Insurance recipients in Quebec in September
The decline in the number of recipients with regular EI benefits in September was concentrated in Quebec (-2.8%; -3,600). This was the second consecutive monthly decrease for the province. Notable proportional declines were also recorded for Manitoba (-3.7%; -700) and Newfoundland and Labrador (-1.9%; -500).
On a year-over-year basis, increases in the number of recipients with regular EI benefits were widespread across provinces in September. The largest proportional increase was in British Columbia (+21.7%; +10,000), followed by Alberta (+19.4%; +10,000), Quebec (+12.2%; +14,000) and Ontario (+12.1%; +19,000).
Chart 2
British Columbia, Alberta, Quebec and Ontario post largest proportional year-over-year increases in regular Employment Insurance beneficiaries in September
Fewer recipients with regular Employment Insurance benefits in September who last worked in education, law and social, community and government services
The number of regular EI recipients in September declined among those who last worked in occupations in education, law and social, community and government services (-1,600; -2.5%). This was the second consecutive monthly decrease, following an upward trend from January 2025 to July. Compared with January 2025, the number of regular EI recipients who last worked in education, law and social, community and government services was up by 11,000 (+21.8%) in September. Among those who last worked in trades, transport and transport operators and related occupations, the proportion of recipients with regular benefits edged down 0.9% (-1,500) in September.
In the 12 months ending in September, the number of beneficiaries receiving regular EI benefits was up across most major occupational groups. The largest year-over-year increase was among recipients who last worked in business, finance and administration occupations (+14,000; +23.5%), followed by sales and service occupations (+12,000; +15.4%).
Chart 3
Largest year-over-year increase in regular Employment Insurance beneficiaries among those who last worked in business, finance and administration occupations
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
Concepts and methodology
Employment Insurance (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 Labour Force Survey (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. To model the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, values for all series from March 2020 to December 2022 have been treated with a combination of level shifts and outliers to determine 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 all people who received regular EI benefits from September 14 to 20. This period coincides with the reference week of the LFS.
A census metropolitan area (CMA) and a census agglomeration (CA) are 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 (SGC) 2021 for more information.
Temporary changes to the Employment Insurance program were recently announced. For more information, see Temporary Employment Insurance measures to respond to major changes in economic conditions.
Next release
Data on EI for October will be released December 18.
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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