The number of people in Saskatchewan receiving employment insurance is on the rise. Statistics Canada reported Thursday that Saskatchewan saw a 1.2 per cent increase in the number of beneficiaries in July.
It marks the eighth straight month the number of those receiving EI has increased.
Rose Olfert, a policy and economics professor at the University of Saskatchewan, said the stats aren’t good news, but adds the trend is indicative of more people coming to Saskatchewan for work, not an economic slowdown in the province.
“Not because we lost jobs, not because the job growth wasn’t there, we did have good job growth, but we had more people into the labour force looking for work and many of them were, at least in the short term, unemployed,” said Olfert.
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Statistics Canada reported that Saskatoon residents accounted for most of the influx in July, with a roughly 4.0 per cent increase in EI beneficiaries.
Overall, 13,800 people in Saskatchewan were receiving EI benefits in July.
Joel Senick contributed to this report
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