EDMONTON – The number of Albertans receiving Employment Insurance continued to increase this summer according to Statistics Canada. The number jumped 1.8 per cent from June to July alone.
The provincial increase was caused by Edmonton which experienced a 4.6 per cent spike from June to July, with the number of people claiming regular EI totalling 17,800. That jump resulted in the ninth straight monthly increase.
There was little change in Calgary. The rest of the province rose 1.6 per cent.
The largest increases in July in EI came from Albertans who had worked in natural and applied sciences (5.7 per cent), management and trades (4.5 per cent), transport and those who worked as equipment operators (3.4 per cent).
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The number of people receiving regular EI in Alberta was up 72.2 per cent compared to July 2014.
Edmonton’s chief economist said Thursday the city’s unemployment currently sits at 5.5 per cent, while the province is at six per cent.
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Despite the concerning numbers, John Rose remains positive about the city’s economic future.
“I’m still relatively confident that Edmonton is going to pull through this,” he said.
“We’ll see very slow growth, we’ll see further run up in the unemployment rate, but Edmonton is a jurisdiction is going to do pretty well even by Canadian standards,” Rose added.
Nationally, 10,500 more people received regular EI benefits in July compared to the previous month, up two per cent to 545,200.
With the country in the midst of a federal election, Rose would like less “posturing” by party leaders and more explanation on, “what do we need to spend? And should we spend it now?” in order to improve the economy.