The number of Lloydminster area residents collecting employment insurance went down from May to June by roughly 3.0 per cent. According to the most recent Statistics Canada data, there were 550 EI recipients on the Alberta side in June and 590 on the Saskatchewan side of the city.
Saskatchewan-residing Lloydminster residents show greater numbers depending on EI compared to those on the Alberta side, but did see a decrease of 30 recipients from May to June, from 620 to 590, which represents about a 4.8 per cent decrease. Meanwhile, the border city’s Albertans saw numbers jump up very slightly from 540 to 550 from May to June: a 1.8 per cent increase.
However, Lloydminster’s numbers for the Alberta side represent a fairly significant increase compared to June of 2015, when there were only 380 EI recipients. As for the Saskatchewan side, the difference is not as staggering, only increasing from 530 to 590.
The numbers are adjusted to account for seasonal layoffs, but still show about a 44 per cent increase and an 11 per cent increase, respectively, for Alberta- and Saskatchewan-based Lloydminster residents on EI.
People on EI across Alberta went down by less than a per cent, while Saskatchewan saw an extremely small increase from 16,140 to 16,150.
Nationally, recipient numbers are fairly consistent: seeing an increase of only 570 people. But compared to last year, June 2016 shows a gain of over 8000 recipients.