AI Analysis: Employment insurance beneficiaries by age group, monthly, unadjusted for seasonality

Executive Summary

Statistics Canada's Employment Insurance beneficiary data (Table 14100010) spans nearly 30 years from January 1997 to February 2026, revealing dramatic cyclical swings driven by economic crises, with a peak of 2,097,070 beneficiaries in January 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The dataset tracks four benefit categories, with 'All types of income benefits' averaging 828,984 beneficiaries per month over the full period. As of February 2026, beneficiary counts have normalized to 1,017,180 — roughly half the pandemic peak — though this remains elevated relative to pre-pandemic levels.

Key Findings

• The all-time peak of 2,097,070 EI beneficiaries occurred in January 2021, approximately 2.5 times the historical monthly average of 828,984, driven by COVID-19-related job losses.
• As of February 2026, there are 1,017,180 EI beneficiaries — roughly half the pandemic peak — indicating significant but incomplete labour market normalization.
• 12 months were flagged as statistical outliers using IQR analysis, with the upper bound threshold at 1,264,968 beneficiaries, and nearly all outliers clustered in the 2020–2021 pandemic period.
• Across all benefit types, the overall mean (498,329) and median (506,250) are closely aligned, suggesting a roughly symmetric long-term distribution despite extreme short-term volatility reflected in a standard deviation of 330,871.
• 'Regular benefits without declared earnings' accounts for the vast majority of claims, as 'Regular benefits with declared earnings' averages only 74,940 beneficiaries per month compared to 582,166 for all regular benefits.
• September 2020 recorded the lowest value in the dataset at 345,420 beneficiaries — occurring within the same pandemic year as the all-time peak — reflecting the rapid but temporary mid-2020 labour market rebound.
• The dataset's nearly 30-year span (1997–2026) captures multiple economic cycles, including the 2008–09 financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, with values ranging from a low of 16,310 to a high of 2,097,070 persons.