Jobless benefit claims rise: StatsCan

After holding steady for about six months, employment insurance claims rose in May, signalling a possible easing in labour market conditions, according to new data from Statistics Canada.

The number of regular employment insurance (EI) beneficiaries increased by 1.9% in May, and are up 14% over the past 12 months, the national statistical agency said in a report released Thursday.

StatsCan noted that before EI claims rose in May they’d been largely unchanged since September 2023.

The increase in the number of EI beneficiaries comes against the backdrop of a rising jobless rate.

In May, the unemployment rate rose 0.1 percentage points to 6.2%, and it was up 0.9 percentage points over the previous year.

By sector, the largest share of EI recipients in May were in the trades, transport and equipment operator segment, representing 34.2% of all beneficiaries. This was followed by sales and service occupations (16.6%), and business, finance and administration occupations (12.0%), StatsCan reported.

James Langton

James is a senior reporter for Advisor.ca and its sister publication, Investment Executive. He has been reporting on regulation, securities law, industry news and more since 1994.