Employment insurance beneficiaries (regular benefits) by province and territory, monthly, seasonally adjusted^{1, 2, 3, 4}

Estimates for the current and previous month are subject to revision.

The number of beneficiaries represents a count of persons who qualified for employment insurance benefits during the Labour Force Survey reference week, usually containing the 15th day of the month.

Due to the COVID-19 situation, many Canadians who were not employed and seeking income assistance between March 15 and September 26, 2020, were accessing Government of Canada benefit programs other than Employment Insurance, such as the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB). As a result, the Employment Insurance Statistics program was suspended between the March and September 2020 reference months. Data for this period were released on December 17, along with data for October 2020.

Data in this table for the March to September reference months should be used with caution due to program implications over the COVID-19 period. For more information, please refer to the October 2020 reference month release of Employment Insurance Statistics.

Includes people who receive regular income benefits whether or not they participate in one of three employment benefit programs, namely Skills Development Program, Job Creation Partnerships Program and Self-employment Program.