Employment Insurance, March 2026
Released: 2026-05-22
The number of Canadians receiving regular Employment Insurance (EI) benefits edged up (+2,300; +0.4%) to reach 548,000 in March, following a decline of 8,700 (-1.6%) in February. The March figure remains below the recent peak of 569,000 recorded in November 2025.
Data from the Labour Force Survey indicates that the unemployment rate was 6.7% in March 2026, unchanged from February, but up 0.2 percentage points from January.
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 who have exhausted their regular benefits, and others who no longer receive benefits for various reasons.
Chart 1
Number of regular Employment Insurance beneficiaries edges up in March
Regular Employment Insurance beneficiaries up the most among core-aged women
In March, there were increases in the number of people receiving regular EI benefits among core-aged (25 to 54 years old) women (+3,500; +2.5%) and women aged 55 and older (+1,000; +1.8%).
On the other hand, declines were recorded among both young (aged 15 to 24) women (-500; -3.5%) and young men (-700; -1.8%), while the number of recipients for core-aged men and men aged 55 and older was little changed for the month.
In the 12 months ending in March, the number of regular EI beneficiaries was up by 44,000 (+8.7%). The largest year-over-year increases were among core-aged women (+18,000; +14.7%), core-aged men (+12,000; +6.1%), and women aged 55 and older (+8,900; +17.5%).
British Columbia saw the largest increase in regular Employment Insurance recipients for the month of March
The number of regular EI recipients rose in British Columbia (+2,300; +3.8%) as well as in Ontario (+1,700; +0.9%) in March. At the same time, there were decreases in Alberta (-1,100; -1.7%), Saskatchewan (-700; -4.4%) and Manitoba (-300; -1.7%). In the other provinces, the number of regular EI recipients was little changed in March.
Chart 2
British Columbia and Ontario post largest year-over-year percentage increases in regular Employment Insurance beneficiaries in March
More regular Employment Insurance recipients last worked in education, law and social, community and government services
In March, the number of regular EI benefit recipients increased among those who last worked in education, law and social, community and government services (+3,300; +5.2%). On a year-over-year basis, the number of recipients in this occupational group was up by 15,000 (+28.8%).
The number of regular EI recipients also increased in March among individuals who last worked in trades, transport and equipment operator and related occupations (+1,800; +1.0%). This increase followed two consecutive monthly declines in January and February. Compared with the same month in 2025, the number of regular EI beneficiaries among those who last worked in this occupational group was up by 5,000 (+3.0%) in March.
Increases in these two occupational groups in March were partially offset by declines among those who were last employed in natural resources, agriculture and related production occupations (-1,300; -4.3%), occupations in manufacturing and utilities (-1,100; -2.7%) and business, finance and administration occupations (-1,000; -1.3%).
Chart 3
Year-over-year increases in regular Employment Insurance beneficiaries among several occupational groups in March
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
Please note that beginning next month (for the April 2026 reference period), releases for the monthly Employment Insurance Statistics program will no longer feature an analytical text highlighting the results. Employment Insurance Statistics will continue to be available in data tables on the Statistics Canada website, and a notice of data availability will be released monthly in The Daily when data are made available.
To learn how the agency is adapting to continue producing high-quality data Canadians can rely on, visit Delivering trusted data through change.
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 Seasonal adjustment: Concepts and interpretation, 2026.
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 March 15 to 21. 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 remain in effect. For more information, see Temporary Employment Insurance measures to respond to major changes in economic conditions.
Next release
Data on EI for April 2026 will be released June 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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