EI - The numbers for January!

So long as we are on the subject of EI here are some of the latest numbers from January.

Last month I said “I expect Ontario numbers to show %100 increase over the previous year in EI benefits being paid out by May”. It is starting to look like I was being VERY optimistic as the number just released in some areas of Ontario are already up 70% over a year before.

In Alberta, 23,300 people were receiving regular EI benefits in January, up 10.5% from December. British Columbia had 56,100 beneficiaries, up 9.0%, while Ontario had 181,500, a 6.2% increase.
Virtually every census metropolitan area across Canada experienced an increase in the number of regular beneficiaries over the last year. Regional EI data and data by sex and age are not seasonally adjusted and therefore should only be compared on a year-over-year basis.

The largest increases between January 2008 and January 2009 occurred in Southwestern Ontario, where the manufacturing sector in particular experienced heavy layoffs.
In Windsor, the number of regular beneficiaries rose 81.6% to 10,600. Also affected were London (+70.3%), Kitchener (+70.0%), and Hamilton (+69.0%), as were Guelph, Woodstock, Tillsonburg and Stratford.
In Toronto, the number of regular beneficiaries increased by 48.3% between January 2008 and January 2009.

Other notable increases in beneficiaries over the 12-month period included Calgary (+61.7%), Vancouver (+55.0%) and Edmonton (+48.9%).
More on this at Stats Can

Impolitical puts it all in perspective in this post!