Alberta experienced the largest percentage decline of people receiving Employment Insurance benefits in September, according to Statistics Canada.
The federal agency reported on Thursday that there were 46,800 people in the province receiving EI benefits in September, down 8.5 per cent from August.
“This coincided with the expiring of a temporary EI measure and was the largest percentage decrease in the province since August 2016. The number of beneficiaries fell across the province, notably in the census metropolitan areas (CMAs) of Edmonton (-10.5 per cent) and Calgary (-9.7 per cent),” said StatsCan.
“Alberta had the largest year-over-year decrease among the provinces, as the number of recipients declined by 27.1 per cent. According to the Labour Force Survey (LFS), the unemployment rate for the province decreased from 7.8 per cent in September 2017 to 7.0 per cent in September, and employment rose by 2.4 per cent.”
Statistics Canada said 446,500 people across the country received regular EI benefits in September, down 14,300 (-3.1 per cent) from August.
It said the number of beneficiaries declined in seven provinces, with the largest percentage declines in Alberta and British Columbia (-8.3 per cent). There were also decreases in Saskatchewan (-4.9 per cent), Ontario (-2.3 per cent), Quebec (-2.2 per cent), Newfoundland and Labrador (-1.7 per cent) and Manitoba (-1.0 per cent). In turn, the number of beneficiaries increased in Prince Edward Island (+4.4 per cent), while there was little change in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
“Variations in the number of beneficiaries can reflect changes in the circumstances of a number of different groups, including those becoming beneficiaries, those going back to work, those who have exhausted their regular benefits, and those no longer receiving benefits for other reasons.
“In particular, some of the declines in beneficiaries coincided with the expiring of a temporary EI measure in effect for claims established from January 2015 to July 2017. The measure offered additional weeks of EI regular benefits in 15 EI economic regions that had experienced a sharp and sustained increase in unemployment. All eligible claimants were entitled to an additional five weeks of EI regular benefits and long-tenured workers were granted up to an additional 20 weeks of benefits,” explained StatsCan.
The federal agency said the number of EI beneficiaries from a year ago decreased in all 10 broad occupational groups. Declines were led by those who last held occupations in sales and service (-18.9 per cent) and health (-18.9 per cent), followed by occupations in management (-16.8 per cent), business, finance and administration (-16.6 per cent) and natural and applied sciences (-16.0 per cent).
“In September, there were 238,400 claims, virtually unchanged from August. The number of claims provides an indication of the number of people who could become beneficiaries. The largest percentage decreases were in Ontario (-2.8 per cent) and Quebec (-2.7 per cent). There were also fewer claims in Newfoundland and Labrador (-2.2 per cent) and British Columbia (-1.2 per cent). Claims increased in Alberta (+8.4 per cent), Saskatchewan (+6.9 per cent), New Brunswick (+5.3 per cent), Manitoba (+4.3 per cent) and Nova Scotia (+3.4 per cent). There was little change in Prince Edward Island. Compared with September 2017, the number of claims rose 5.4 per cent at the national level.”
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