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Employment Insurance, May 2006 (preliminary)

The estimated number of Canadians receiving regular Employment Insurance benefits in May was 483,480, down 1.6% from April (seasonally adjusted). The decrease was the fourth consecutive decline and the eighth in the last nine months.

Except for Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan, all provinces recorded decreases in May. The largest decreases occurred in Manitoba (-3.1%) and Ontario (-2.5%). Both Alberta and British Columbia have now shown declines for nine consecutive months.

Regular benefit payments in May totalled $606 million, while 220,650 people made initial and renewal claims was.

Note: Employment Insurance Statistics Program data are produced from an administrative data source and may, from time to time, be affected by changes to the Employment Insurance Act or administrative procedures. The number of beneficiaries for this month is a measure of all persons who received Employment Insurance benefits from the 14th to the 20th of the month. This coincides with the reference week of the Labour Force Survey. The regular benefit payments figure measures the total of all monies paid to individuals from the 1st to the end of the month.

Available on CANSIM: tables 276-0001 to 276-0006, 276-0009, 276-0011, 276-0015 and 276-0016.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 2604.

Data on Employment Insurance for June will be released on August 29.

For general information or to order data, contact Client Services (613-951-4090; toll-free 1-866-873-8788; labour@statcan.ca). To enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Gilles Groleau (613-951-4091), Labour Statistics Division.

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