B.C. was among a handful of provinces reporting year-over-year declines in the number of people receiving employment insurance, according to Statistics Canada data released Thursday.
The total number of EI recipients fell to 80,020 in March, 100 fewer than in February and 2,820 fewer than the number of recipients in March 2009.
A 12.8% decline in EI beneficiaries under 25 and a 6.1% drop among recipients aged 25 to 54 contributed to the overall drop. That was offset by a 6% increase in recipients aged 55 and older.
Nineteen out of 25 urban centres in B.C. reported a decline in people receiving EI benefits. The most pronounced decreases were in Williams Lake, Port Alberni and Cranbrook. However, the number of recipients increased in B.C.’s largest urban regions, with a 7.4% increase in Abbotsford, a 4.9% increase in Vancouver and a 1.4% increase in Victoria in the 12-month period between March 2009 and March 2010.
B.C. followed the national trend with a drop in the number of men receiving EI benefits and an increase in the number of female recipients. In B.C., the number of male recipients has fallen 11%, while the number of female beneficiaries has risen 7.7%.
Nationally, the number of recipients fell 2.8% to 668,060 from 692,210 for the 12-month period ending March 31, 2010. Ontario reported the largest decline (-8.7%) followed by Quebec (-5.4%), B.C. (-3.4%), Newfoundland (-1.8%) and New Brunswick (-0.8%).
StatsCan reported that the number of claims has been declining since their peak in May 2009 and have fallen below levels in the fall of 2008 when the labour market began to weaken.