Employment Insurance, February 2025
Released: 2025-04-17
The number of Canadians receiving regular Employment Insurance (EI) benefits increased by 12,000 (+2.5%) to 494,000 in February, following four months of little change. Compared with 12 months earlier, the number of regular EI beneficiaries was up by 28,000 (+5.9%) in February.
Data from the Labour Force Survey indicate that the unemployment rate was up 0.7 percentage points year over year to 6.6% in February.
In general, variations in the number of EI beneficiaries can reflect changes in the circumstances of different groups of people, including those becoming beneficiaries, those going back to work, those exhausting their regular benefits, and those no longer receiving benefits for other reasons.
Temporary flexibilities to the EI Work-Sharing Program and measures to improve access to regular EI benefits were announced recently. However, these measures were not in effect for the February reference period.
Chart 1
Number of regular Employment Insurance beneficiaries increases in February
More regular Employment Insurance recipients among core-aged men and women
In February, the number of EI recipients receiving regular benefits increased mostly among core-aged (25 to 54 years old) men (+5,600; +2.9%) and core-aged women (+2,800; +2.4%). Other increases were also recorded among both men and women aged 55 years and older (+2,300; +1.8%) and youth aged 15 to 24 years (+1,300; +2.9%).
Compared with one year earlier, increases in the number of people receiving regular EI benefits were largest among core-aged men (+13,000; +7.0%) and core-aged women (+7,400; +6.6%) in February. There were smaller increases among men (+4,100; +5.2%) and women (+2,900; +6.2%) aged 55 years and older. The number of young men who received regular EI benefits edged up by 700 (+2.0%) compared with February 2024, while there was little change for young women.
The number of regular Employment Insurance recipients up in six provinces in February, led by Quebec
In February, the number of beneficiaries receiving regular EI benefits increased the most in Quebec (+5,300; +5.1%), following five consecutive monthly declines. The increase in February was mostly among core-aged men (+2,500; +6.1%) and core-aged women (+1,000; +4.4%).
Increases in February were also recorded in Ontario (+2,200; +1.4%), Alberta (+2,100; +3.9%) and British Columbia (+1,100; +2.2%).
The number of recipients receiving regular EI benefits edged up in Saskatchewan (+500; +3.2%) and New Brunswick (+300; +1.2%) in February. There was little change in all other provinces.
On a year-over-year basis, Ontario (+18,000; +12.1%) recorded the largest increase among all provinces in February, mostly among core-aged men (+8,900; +15.3%) and core-aged women (+4,100; +10.2%). In the Toronto census metropolitan area (CMA), the number of beneficiaries receiving regular benefits was up by 8,300 (+13.5%).
Quebec recorded a year-over-year increase of 6,500 (+6.3%) in the number of regular EI beneficiaries in February. Most of the increase in regular EI recipients in the province was in the Montréal CMA (+5,000; +11.9%).
Chart 2
Quebec posts the largest proportional increase in regular Employment Insurance recipients in February
The largest year-over-year increase in the number of regular Employment Insurance beneficiaries was among recipients who last worked in trades, transport and equipment operators and related occupations
In February, the largest increase in the number of regular EI recipients was among beneficiaries who last worked in trades, transport and equipment operators and related occupations (+6,500; +3.9%).
On a year-over-year basis, trades, transport and equipment operators and related occupations (+7,700; +4.7%) recorded the largest increase in February, followed by business, finance and administration occupations (+5,900; +10.6%), natural, applied sciences and related occupations (+4,300; +13.0%) and sales and service occupations (+3,600; +4.8%).
Chart 3
Largest 12-month increase in February in regular Employment Insurance recipients among those who last worked in trades, transport and equipment operators and related occupations
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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 reporting on global sustainable development goals. This release will be used to help measure the following goal:
Note to readers
Concepts and methodology
Employment Insurance (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 Labour Force Survey (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. To model the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, values for all series from March 2020 to December 2022 have been treated with a combination of level shifts and outliers to determine 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 all people who received regular EI benefits from February 9 to 15. This period coincides with the reference week of the LFS.
A census metropolitan area (CMA) and a census agglomeration (CA) are 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 (SGC) 2021 for more information.
Temporary Employment Insurance measures were announced in March to respond to major changes in economic conditions. For more information, see Temporary Employment Insurance measures to respond to major changes in economic conditions.
Next release
Data on EI for March will be released on May 22.
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; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).
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