28 July 2009

Record number on [Canadian] unemployment

The following is excerpted from the 28 July 2009 edition of “globeandmail.com”.

The number of Canadians collecting jobless benefits is climbing sharply, hitting record levels certain to stoke mounting controversy over the program.

In May, Statistics Canada said Tuesday 778,700 people received regular benefits under the Employment Insurance program, up by 65,600 or 9.2 per cent from April.

It was the highest number since the federal agency began collecting such statistics in 1997.

The number of EI beneficiaries has jumped almost 56 per cent, or by more than 278,000, since employment in Canada peaked last October.

Alberta and Ontario showed the fastest rates of increase in May, Statistics Canada said. …

“The good news is, recovery is at hand,” said Patricia Croft, chief economist at RBC Global Management. “The bad news is, employment tends to be a lagging indicator, and for many Canadians I think this isn't going to feel like a recovery.”

Ms. Croft expects unemployment will continue to rise, hitting 10 per cent in the United States and at least 9 per cent in Canada. …

In May alone, the number of claimants in Alberta, where the jobless rate has spiked to 6.6 per cent from 3.7 per cent seven months ago, surged 16.8 per cent.

That was almost matched by Ontario, where the number of beneficiaries soared 16 per cent.

Quebec, Manitoba and the eastern provinces have, over the past seven months, posted increases below the national average of 55.6 per cent.

Statistics Canada cited hefty increases in Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Victoria and southwestern Ontario, home to the battered auto industry. Some centres – such as Kelowna and Cranbrook, B.C., and Windsor and Guelph, Ont., have seen their numbers more than triple.