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A provincial look at employment insurance

In September 2009 over 818,000 Canadians received regular Employment Insurance (EI) benefits, up 63% from October 2008, when the labour market peaked. But the rate of increase was not the same for all provinces.

In fact, some of the provinces with previously tight labour markets were most affected by the recession. Alberta, for example, saw the number of its EI recipients increase significantly.

Alberta's working-age population (15 to 64) had the highest participation rate (83.3%) and the highest employment rate (80.1%) in the country in October 2008. By September 2009 both rates fell, to 81.8% and 76.1% respectively.

The change in Alberta's employment rate (-4 percentage points) from October 2008 to September 2009 was the biggest among all provinces, followed by Ontario (-3 points) and British Colombia (-2.2 points).

Chart - Recipients of regular Employment Insurance benefits, % change from October 2008 to September 2009

Source: Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance Statistics, seasonally adjusted data.

Table - Recipients of regular Employment Insurance benefits, % change from October 2008 to September 2009

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