Number of people who received Employment Insurance regular benefits during the month's reference week (the week containing the 15th), Canada, seasonally adjusted. Regular benefits compensate employees who lose their job through no fault of their own; sickness, parental and caregiving benefits are excluded. Published monthly by Statistics Canada from Employment and Social Development Canada files. It is an administrative register: it depends on eligibility rules, which changed during the pandemic (Canada Emergency Response Benefit in 2020), and does not measure unemployment as the Labour Force Survey does.· Administrative register, not the LFS unemployment rate; 2020 rules changed (CERB)
541.3K
Aug 2026
−2.9 %vs Aug 2025
min 164.3K Aug 2020max 1.7M May 2021
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Source: Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance Statistics (14-10-0011)· Data Aug 2026
Regular benefit recipients, reference week, seasonally adjustedAdministrative register, not the LFS unemployment rate; 2020 rules changed (CERB)Upd. 10/2026
