In June, the number of Canadians receiving regular Employment Insurance (EI) benefits totalled 474,000, up 1.3% (+6,000) from a month earlier. This was the second consecutive monthly increase. Prior to the increases in May and June, the number of regular EI beneficiaries had held relatively steady since September 2023.
On a year-over-year basis, the number of regular EI beneficiaries was up by 45,000 (+10.4%) in June 2024.
Data from the Labour Force Survey show that the unemployment rate increased 0.2 percentage points in June to 6.4%, as more people searched for work, while overall employment held steady. Compared with 12 months earlier, the unemployment rate was up by 1.0 percentage points and the number of unemployed people on layoff increased to 519,000 (+16.1%; +72,000) (not seasonally adjusted).
In general, variations in the number of EI beneficiaries can reflect changes in the circumstances of different groups, including those becoming beneficiaries, those going back to work, those exhausting their regular benefits, and those no longer receiving benefits for other reasons.
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