Employment Insurance, December 2020
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Released: 2021-02-18
December Employment Insurance (EI) statistics reflect labour market conditions as of the week of December 6 to 12.
During the reference week, public health measures introduced earlier in the fall remained in place in Manitoba and much of Quebec, including the closure of many recreation and cultural facilities and in-person dining services, as well as restrictions on retail businesses. In several other provinces, new measures were introduced between the November and December reference weeks. In Ontario, a lockdown requiring the closure of indoor and outdoor dining services, personal care services, and indoor sports and recreation facilities was introduced in Toronto and Peel on November 23, and then extended to include Windsor and York on December 11. Prince Edward Island entered a two-week lockdown on December 7. In Alberta, many entertainment and recreation facilities were closed, while capacity limits were introduced for many businesses and activities in Saskatchewan.
Number of regular EI beneficiaries up slightly in December
In December, the number of Canadians receiving regular EI benefits rose 2.0% (+26,000) to 1.3 million. Results from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) indicate there were 1.8 million unemployed people in December, including 1.5 million who were looking for work and 300,000 who had a connection to a job, because they either were on temporary layoff or had arrangements to begin a new job in the near future.
Infographic 1
Number of regular Employment Insurance beneficiaries up slightly in December
Proportion of regular EI beneficiaries qualifying under new rules increases in all provinces for second consecutive month
The proportion of regular EI beneficiaries qualifying for EI as a result of temporary changes to program eligibility rules introduced in late September increased in all provinces for the second consecutive month, led by Newfoundland and Labrador (+2.6 percentage points) and Nova Scotia (+1.6 percentage points) (not seasonally adjusted). For the third consecutive month, Quebec (16.2%) and New Brunswick (14.9%) had the highest proportions of regular EI beneficiaries qualifying for EI under the new rules, while Alberta (9.5%) had the lowest.
Chart 1
Proportion of regular Employment Insurance beneficiaries qualifying under new rules increases in all provinces for second consecutive month (not seasonally adjusted)
Number of regular EI beneficiaries increases in six provinces
The number of regular EI beneficiaries rose in six provinces in December, led by Ontario (+24,000; +5.4%), Quebec (+10,000; +3.5%) and Manitoba (+6,500; +15.2%). At the same time, British Columbia (-10,000; -6.5%) and Alberta (-6,600; -3.6%) posted decreases in the number of regular EI recipients.
On a regional basis, census metropolitan areas (CMAs) (+21,000; +2.3%) recorded the largest increase in regular EI recipients, followed by regions outside CMAs and census agglomerations (+6,700; +2.9%). In December, the largest CMAs in Canada—Toronto, Montréal and Vancouver—each accounted for more than half of total regular EI recipients in their respective province, up from just over one-third a year earlier.
Industries hit hard by public health measures account for more than one-quarter of EI recipients
December LFS results indicate that the industries where employment remained farthest from levels observed in February 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic, included accommodation and food services (-25.3%); information, culture and recreation (-12.6%); and "other services," including personal care and laundry services (-8.4%). The challenges facing these industries are reflected in the profile of regular EI beneficiaries. In December, for example, more than one in four regular EI recipients (28.7%) last worked in one of these three industries, including nearly one in five (18.2%) who last worked in accommodation and food services (not seasonally adjusted). In comparison, 12 months earlier, these industries accounted for 14.1% of all regular EI beneficiaries.
Chart 2
Industries hit hard by public health measures account for more than one-quarter of regular Employment Insurance beneficiaries (not seasonally adjusted)
Number of regular EI beneficiaries increases significantly more among men than women
In December, the number of men receiving regular EI benefits rose by 22,000 (+3.3%), more than six times the increase among women (+3,500; +0.5%). Men who last worked in the construction industry accounted for one-quarter (25.4%) of the monthly increase in regular EI recipients (not seasonally adjusted).
Among youth aged 15 to 24, the number of regular EI beneficiaries rose 5.9% (+10,000), a rate of increase considerably higher than the 1.4% (+16,000) growth seen among people aged 25 and over. According to the December LFS, youth employment remained farther from pre-pandemic levels than all other demographic groups, with the February-to-December gap being larger for female youth than their male counterparts.
Looking ahead
According to the December LFS results, 28.3% of all unemployed people in December had been continuously out of work for 27 weeks or more. The challenges faced by many workers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in returning to employment are also reflected in EI data. In December, for example, 8 in 10 regular EI beneficiaries (80.7%) had also received benefits in November, compared with 66.6% one year earlier.
January EI results, to be released on March 25, will reflect additional public health measures introduced in many provinces after the December reference week in an effort to control the spread of COVID-19.
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 the reporting on the global sustainable development goals. This release will be used to help measure the following goal:
Note to readers
Employment Insurance in the context of broader COVID-19 benefit programs
No methodological changes were made to the Employment Insurance Statistics (EIS) program over the COVID-19 period. EIS reflect the Employment Insurance (EI) program for the Labour Force Survey (LFS) reference week in each month.
Data for the December 2020 reference period and onward consist of individuals who obtained EI benefits, and exclude beneficiaries of the Canada recovery benefits (Canada Recovery Benefit, Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit and Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit).
Concepts and methodology
The analysis focuses on people who received regular EI benefits related to job loss.
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 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. Values for all series from March to December 2020 have been treated as outliers in the determination of a seasonal pattern for seasonal adjustment. For more information on seasonal adjustment, see Seasonally adjusted data – Frequently asked questions.
The number of regular EI beneficiaries for the current month and the previous month is subject to revision.
The number of beneficiaries is a measure of all people who received regular EI benefits from December 6 to 12. This period coincides with the reference week of the LFS.
Beneficiaries who qualified for EI under the new EI rules introduced in September 2020
Temporary changes to the EI program that provided all new regular EI beneficiaries with a one-time credit of 300 insurable hours were introduced on September 27, 2020. In addition, the unemployment rate used to calculate their eligibility and entitlement weeks was 13.1%, unless their region's unemployment rate was higher.
This supplementary indicator presents the number of individuals who qualified for EI only as a result of these program changes.
EI beneficiaries by industry
The industry of EI beneficiaries is determined through the integration of EI and record of employment administrative data. For beneficiaries with more than one record of employment in the past 52 weeks, the records with the greatest number of hours are used. If no industry information can be found, industry information is deemed "Not classified" for the beneficiary.
A census metropolitan area (CMA) or census agglomeration (CA) is 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 2016 – definitions for more information.
Data availability
Data tables 14-10-0336 and 14-10-0337 remain suspended as of the December 2019 reference period, because of occupational coding issues from the source data file. Work is ongoing to identify a solution and continue publication of the tables.
Data tables 14-10-0004, 14-10-0005, 14-10-0007 and 14-10-0008 remain suspended as of the March 2020 reference period, because a source data file contains records for Canada Emergency Response Benefit claimants and beneficiaries that could not be identified and excluded through processing.
In the data table 14-10-0009, for the March to September reference periods, sub-aggregates of the parent "regular benefits" benefit type have been suppressed because of data quality.
Next release
Data on EI for January 2021 will be released on March 25, 2021.
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; STATCAN.infostats-infostats.STATCAN@canada.ca) or Media Relations (613-951-4636; STATCAN.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.STATCAN@canada.ca).
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