WATCH ABOVE: There’s more unsettling news for Canada’s economy as it tries to stay afloat while oil prices sink. The impact is being felt across the country, but nowhere more than in Alberta. New numbers show employment insurance claims have increased in Alberta for the eight straight month. Reid Fiest reports.
CALGARY — It has been a frustrating six months for unemployed engineer Chris Guss.
The Calgary energy sector worker was laid off in February and now, with his severance spent, he’s trying to survive on Employment Insurance (EI).
“More people were let go in other companies, so the market is becoming saturated with people looking for work,” says Guss. “So, the competition is quite fierce.”
Staffing agencies say what jobs are out there are receiving 500 applications within days of postings going up.
“The quality of individuals we can represent is up, but finding them opportunities in the marketplace is a challenge,” says BOWEN Staffing’s Jeffrey Bowen.
From May to June, Alberta saw 7.7 per cent more workers receiving EI — the highest in the country — followed by Saskatchewan at 4.9 per cent and Manitoba at 3.6 per cent.
By contrast, fewer were collecting in Prince Edward Island at -2.5 per cent, Nova Scotia at -1.5 per cent and New Brunswick at -1.1 per cent.
WATCH: More Albertans are collecting employment benefits as layoffs increase and the job market tightens up, now the NDP government claims it’s working on a plan to help. Global’s Gary Bobrovitz reports.
While the rest of Canada saw little change, BMO Financial Group Chief Economist Douglas Porter says the whole economy will suffer.
“At the margins it’s bad news for the rest of the country, but we’ve seen this kind of thing before and usually the rest of the country can soldier on if Alberta is struggling,” Porter told Global News.
“And, in some ways it’s the flip side of what we’ve been going through for some of the last 10 years.”
Nationally, 20,300 Canadians were added to the EI rolls in the last year from June 2014 to June 2015 — much of that because of Alberta’s losses, with over 22,200 Albertans cashing government cheques during the same time.
Ross Gilker’s Calgary Company, Gilker McRae Career Management, Transition & Consulting, says he expects more job cuts in the next few months because of slumping oil prices.
“It’s not a fun time. There’s a lot of stressed people a lot of scared people,” Gilker told Global News.
Companies are calling to line up career transition contracts to support employees after they’re cut from the payroll.
“The current things we’ve done — cutting back salaries 10 per cent, giving people Fridays off — is not enough. We’re going to have to revisit our headcount, and we may not have numbers yet, but clearly it’s going to mean a reduction in numbers of employees at a lot of firms.”
It will mean even more competition for the thousands already hitting the streets, looking for a job.
Meantime, Guss is hopeful but realistic as he cuts back to make ends meet on EI. But, he isn’t giving up.
“You get dressed to meet somebody that you’re maybe working for — potentially — so you’re always on your game.”
New and renewed EI claims in Alberta up more than 42 per cent from June 2014
A total of 531,700 Canadians received EI benefits in June, according to newly released data from Statistics Canada —a 1 per cent change from May but a 4 per cent rise from June 2014.
But the most significant numbers to come out of Thursday’s release were the new or renewed EI claims in Alberta (28,170), British Columbia (34,470) and Ontario (95,210).
Those three provinces led the way for having the greatest year-over-year increase in claims.
Alberta’s month-to-month increase was just 310 claimants more in June or a 1.1 per cent bump, following a now eight-month trend in a province hit hard by falling oil prices. But the increase in claims over the 12-month period is more than 42 per cent or 8,380.
There were almost as many new or renewed EI claims made in Ontario as in Alberta, with 8,080 more in June compared to June 2014, but only making a 9.3 per cent increase from a year earlier, when there were 87,130 claimants.
Month-to-month, however, it was a 19.7 increase from May to June or 15,670 claims — the biggest monthly increase in the country.
The only other province to come close was B.C., with its 8 per cent increase or 2,270 more claimants than May. But unlike Alberta and Ontario, the number of claims in B.C. is actually down year over year, by 0.9 per cent or 280 claims.
With files from Nick Logan
Comments