EI benefits in Canada remain stable while unemployment rises to 6.1% in March, says new report
In March, 470,000 Canadians received regular Employment Insurance (EI) benefits, showing a slight increase of 0.1 percent (+400) from February.
The number of regular EI recipients has remained relatively steady in recent months after rising from February to December 2023 by 19.8 percent (+78,000).
Year-over-year, the number of regular EI beneficiaries increased by 75,000 (+18.9 percent) in March 2024.
Data from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) indicated that the unemployment rate rose by 0.3 percentage points to 6.1 percent in March, marking a cumulative increase of 1.0 percentage points since March 2023.
Changes in the number of EI beneficiaries generally reflect shifts in various factors, such as new beneficiaries, individuals returning to work, those exhausting their benefits, and those no longer receiving benefits for other reasons.
The number of youth (aged 15 to 24) receiving regular EI benefits decreased by 1.0 percent (-500) in March, following increases totalling 7.6 percent (+3,300) from October 2023 to February 2024. This decline occurred among young men.
Over the 12 months to March 2024, the number of young men receiving regular EI benefits increased by 33.9 percent (+8,100), and the number of young women receiving benefits rose by 15.9 percent (+1,800).
During the same period, the unemployment rate increased to 13.4 percent for young men (up 3.3 percentage points) and to 11.7 percent for young women (up 2.9 percentage points).
The current number of young EI recipients in March 2024 (45,000) was 2.1 percent below the average level from 2017 to 2019 (46,000).
The number of core-aged (25 to 54 years old) regular EI recipients remained steady in March. On a year-over-year basis, there was an increase of 21.5 percent (+33,000) for core-aged men and 19.3 percent (+19,000) for core-aged women.
The number of EI recipients aged 55 and older remained stable for the third consecutive month. Compared to a year earlier, there were more older men (+13.9 percent; +9,700) and older women (+9.0 percent; +3,800) receiving regular EI benefits.
However, these increases were smaller than those seen among youth and core-aged groups.
In March, the number of regular EI beneficiaries fell in Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and British Columbia, while it increased in Ontario. Other provinces saw little change.
Newfoundland and Labrador experienced a decline of 2.0 percent (-600) in regular EI recipients, with the most significant decrease among those aged 55 and older (-2.6 percent; -300).
Compared to March 2023, the total number of EI recipients in Newfoundland and Labrador decreased by 3.6 percent (-1,100). New Brunswick also saw a year-over-year decline (-1.5 percent; -400).
Prince Edward Island saw a 1.5 percent (-100) decrease in regular EI recipients in March, while Nova Scotia posted a decline of 1.4 percent (-300). Year-over-year, Prince Edward Island had an increase of 6.5 percent (+400) in EI beneficiaries, and Nova Scotia had an increase of 3.2 percent (+700).
British Columbia saw a 1.2 percent (-600) decrease in regular EI recipients, marking the smallest of four consecutive monthly decreases. Declines in March were observed among older men and women (-3.1 percent; -400) and youth (-4.5 percent; -200).
Despite recent declines, the number of regular EI recipients in British Columbia increased by 19.6 percent (+7,800) year-over-year. The Vancouver census metropolitan area (CMA) also saw a fourth consecutive monthly decline in EI recipients, down 1.6 percent (-300) in March.
In Ontario, the number of regular EI beneficiaries increased by 1.2 percent (+1,800) in March, continuing an upward trend that began in December 2022, with cumulative increases totalling 39.0 percent (+41,000).
During this period, the LFS indicated that the provincial unemployment rate rose from 5.3 percent in December 2022 to 6.7 percent in March 2024.
The largest increase in regular EI recipients in March 2024 was among core-aged women (+3.1 percent; +1,300), with a smaller overall increase among older men and women (+2.2 percent; +700).
Among Ontario's CMAs, Toronto saw the most significant increase in regular EI recipients, up 2.9 percent (+1,700) in March, while other CMAs saw little change.
