Canadians Receiving Employment Insurance Benefits Declines in April

On Thursday, Statistics Canada (StatCan) reported that 456,000 Canadians received regular Employment Insurance (EI) benefits in April. This is down 2.8%, or 13,000 recipients, from March.

Prior to the April decline, the number of regular EI recipients had trended higher from February 2023 to December 2023—up 19.8%, or 78,000—but has held steady in early months of 2024. Year-over-year, the number of regular EI beneficiaries was up 15.1%, or 60,000, in April.

April data from the Labor Force Survey (LFS) reveal that employment increased 0.4%, or 90,000 jobs. At 6.1%, the unemployment rate was unchanged in the month but 1.0 percentage points higher compared to April 2023.

StatCan notes that 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.