Canadian Unemployment Dips in November

Statistics Canada (StatsCan) reported on Thursday (1-20-22) that in the week ending November 13, 2021, approximately 692,000 Canadians were receiving regular Employment Insurance (EI). This is down 50,000 (-6.7%) from October. There were -1.0 million fewer regular EI beneficiaries in November than in May 2021, when the number of regular EI beneficiaries reached its COVID-19 pandemic peak.

According to the Labor Force Survey (LFS), unemployment fell by 122,000 to 1.24 million in November. The number of regular EI beneficiaries fell in all provinces in November. The unemployed included 1.15 million Canadians who were looking for work and 90,000 who had a connection to a job, either because they were on temporary layoff or had arrangements to begin a new job in the near future.

In November, among EI recipients who received regular EI benefits in at least 10 of the previous 12 months, one-third (33.4%) last worked in sales and service occupations, and almost one-quarter (24.5%) last worked in trades, transport and equipment operators and related occupations (not seasonally adjusted).