The Daily, Tuesday, July 25, 2006. Employment Insurance

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Employment Insurance

The estimated number of Canadians receiving regular Employment Insurance benefits in May was 483,480, down 1.6% from April (seasonally adjusted). The decrease was the fourth consecutive decline and the eighth in the last nine months.

Except for Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan, all provinces recorded decreases in May. The largest decreases occurred in Manitoba (-3.1%) and Ontario (-2.5%). Both Alberta and British Columbia have now shown declines for nine consecutive months.

Regular benefit payments in May totalled $606 million, while 220,650 people made initial and renewal claims was.

Note: Employment Insurance Statistics Program data are produced from an administrative data source and may, from time to time, be affected by changes to the Employment Insurance Act or administrative procedures. The number of beneficiaries for this month is a measure of all persons who received Employment Insurance benefits from the 14th to the 20th of the month. This coincides with the reference week of the Labour Force Survey. The regular benefit payments figure measures the total of all monies paid to individuals from the 1st to the end of the month.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 2604.

Data on Employment Insurance for June will be released on August 29.

For general information or to order data, contact Client Services (613-951-4090; toll-free 1-866-873-8788; labour@statcan.gc.ca). To enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Gilles Groleau (613-951-4091), Labour Statistics Division.

Employment Insurance statistics

May 2006

April 2006

May 2005

April to May 2006

May 2005 to May 2006

Seasonally adjusted

% change

Regular beneficiaries

483,480^p

491,370^r

516,590

-1.6

-6.4

Regular benefits paid ($ millions)

606.0^p

781.2^r

714.8

-22.4

-15.2

Initial and renewal claims received ('000)

220.7^p

232.0^r

238.5

-4.9

-7.5

Unadjusted

All beneficiaries ('000)¹

690.8^p

835.0^p

745.6

Regular beneficiaries ('000)

430.5^p

552.6^p

465.7

Initial and renewal claims received ('000)

172.1

172.4

184.8

Payments ($ millions)

1,096.2

1,513.2

1,297.8

Year-to-date (January to May)

2006

2005

2005 to 2006

% change

Claims received ('000)

1,044.4

1,111.7

-6.1

Payments ($ millions)

6,983.7

7,071.7

-1.2

^r	revised
^p	preliminary
1.	"All beneficiaries" includes all claimants receiving regular benefits (for example, as a result of layoff) or special benefits (for example, as a result of illness) and are representative of data for the Labour Force Survey reference week which is usually the week containing the 15th.of the month.

Number of beneficiaries receiving regular benefits

May 2006^p

April to May 2006

May 2005 to May 2006

Seasonally adjusted

% change

Canada

483,480

-1.6

-6.4

Newfoundland and Labrador

36,360

-1.4

-5.1

Prince Edward Island

8,090

3.1

-4.3

Nova Scotia

28,600

0.7

-3.5

New Brunswick

32,280

-0.6

-6.8

Quebec

171,970

-0.9

-2.3

Ontario

125,280

-2.5

-3.4

Manitoba

10,490

-3.1

-16.1

Saskatchewan

9,510

0.2

-13.9

Alberta

18,010

-0.6

-18.3

British Columbia

41,370

-1.2

-19.3

Yukon

800

8.1

-11.1

Northwest Territories

670

-5.6

-9.5

Nunavut

400

0.0

2.6

^p	preliminary
Note:	The number of beneficiaries includes all claimants who received regular benefits for the Labour Force Survey reference week, usually containing the 15th day of the month.