Number of Canadians Receiving Regular Employment Insurance Increases in August

Statistics Canada (StatCan) on Thursday (10-19-23) reported that there were 448,000 Canadians receiving regular Employment Insurance (EI) benefits in August, up 9,100, or 2.1%, from July.

StatCan notes that this is the fourth consecutive monthly increase in the number of regular EI recipients. However, despite the successive increases, the total number of regular EI beneficiaries in August remained below levels seen in August 2022, which reflects 42,000 less EI recipients, or down 8.5%.

According to the Labor Force Survey (LFS), the unemployment rate was unchanged in August, holding at 5.5%. This follows three consecutive monthly increases.

StatCan reminds readers that when viewing this data, variations in the number of 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.