Employment Insurance beneficiaries lowest on record besides CERB period

In March, 388,000 Canadians received regular Employment Insurance (EI) benefits, little changed from February. The number of regular EI recipients in March was the lowest on record (outside of the period when the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit was in place from March to September 2020). The number of people collecting regular EI benefits fell by 26.7 per cent (-141,000) in the 12 months to March, reported Statistics Canada on Thursday.

“According to the Labour Force Survey, the unemployment rate held steady at a near-record low of 5.0 per cent in March. Meanwhile, the proportion of the unemployed who had been out of work for 27 weeks or more—the long-term unemployed—fell from 20.3 per cent in March 2022 to 16.0 per cent in March 2023,” said the federal agency.

“In March, the number of people receiving regular EI benefits fell in five provinces. The largest proportional decline was in Prince Edward Island (-5.5 per cent; -400), where the number of regular EI recipients fell for a third consecutive month. Other notable proportional decreases occurred in Alberta (-2.8 per cent; -1,100), Manitoba (-2.2 per cent; -300), Nova Scotia (-2.2 per cent; -500) and New Brunswick (-1.1 per cent; -300).

“The number of regular EI beneficiaries in Ontario edged up 1.0 per cent (+1,100) in March. This was the third consecutive monthly increase for the province, bringing cumulative gains since December 2022 to 6,900 (+6.5 per cent). Compared with 12 months earlier, the number of regular EI beneficiaries in Ontario was down by 22.9 per cent (-33,600) in March 2023. There was little change in the number of regular EI beneficiaries in the other four provinces in March.

“Among census metropolitan areas (CMAs), the largest proportional decreases in regular EI beneficiaries were in the CMAs of Hamilton (-10.2 per cent; -600) and Kelowna (-7.5 per cent; -200). Conversely, the largest proportional increases in the number of beneficiaries were in the CMAs of Guelph (+16.7 per cent; +200) and Kingston (+13.6 per cent; +200).”

(Mario Toneguzzi is Managing Editor of Canada’s Podcast. He has more than 40 years of experience as a daily newspaper writer, columnist, and editor. He worked for 35 years at the Calgary Herald, covering sports, crime, politics, health, faith, city and breaking news, and business. He works as well as a freelance writer for several national publications and as a consultant in communications and media relations/training. Mario was named in 2021 as one of the Top 10 Business Journalists in the World by PR News – the only Canadian to make the list)