Employment Insurance

An estimated 454,230 Canadians (seasonally adjusted) received regular Employment Insurance benefits in October, 1,400 fewer than in September. Nine provinces have recorded declines for three consecutive months.

Compared with October 2006, the number of Canadians receiving regular benefits has declined 7.6%. Provincially, the largest year-over-year declines occurred in Alberta (-15.1%), Saskatchewan (-14.3%) and Manitoba (-14.3%).

Regular benefit payments in October totalled $606.9 million, while 210,290 people made initial and renewal claims.

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 is a measure of all persons who received Employment Insurance benefits from the 7th to the 13th 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.

Available on CANSIM: tables 276-0001 to 276-0006, 276-0009, 276-0011, 276-0015 and 276-0016.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 2604.

Data on Employment Insurance for November 2007 will be released on January 22, 2008.

For general information or to order data, contact Client Services (toll-free 1-866-873-8788; 613-951-4090; 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.

Table(s).