The seasonally-adjusted number of Albertans receiving regular Employment Insurance (EI) benefits fell for the 13th month in a row in June.

There were 51,380 recipients of regular EI benefits in May compared to 49,390 in June 2022— a decrease of 3.9%.

The number of regular beneficiaries in the province peaked in January 2021 at 207,200 and was sitting at 53,909 in February 2020 before the pandemic was declared*.

The waning number of EI recipients has tracked the decline in the unemployment rate.

Between June 2021 and June 2022, the seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate in Alberta went from 8.9% to 4.9%.

Nationally, 485,820 Canadians received regular EI benefits in June, down by 1.4% from May.

The retightening of EI eligibility requirements that will take effect at the end of September will reduce the number of Albertans who can access the program.

*Unemployed Canadians were diverted to the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) during the early months of the pandemic. As a result, the number of regular EI beneficiaries in Alberta fell to a low of 26,630 in August 2020 before rising rapidly when the CERB program was terminated.

Answer to the previous trivia question: Estimates vary, but there are about 1.42 billion cars in operation worldwide.

Today’s trivia question: In what year was the first Eaton’s catalogue published?