The number of Canadians collecting employment insurance (EI) benefits fell to a 25-year low in November, according to Statistics Canada.
The Ottawa-based agency said November marked the lowest number of people receiving EI benefits since data started being collected in 1997.
The drop in EI beneficiaries comes as Canada’s unemployment rate sits near a historic low of 5.1%.
Statistics Canada said the number of people receiving regular EI benefits fell in eight provinces during November, and that fewer men and women in all age categories collected EI benefits.
The statistics agency’s Labour Force Survey found that the number of people who left a job involuntarily declined 3.2% in November from a year ago and was down 18.6% compared with November 2019 before the pandemic.