SHORT TERM

LONG TERM

• Claims for Employment Insurance (EI) ebb and flow due to economic cycles.
• Of all income transfer programs, EI is most closely tied to economic cycles. A worker is only eligible for EI if they are laid off or involuntarily lose employment.
• Over the past 20 years, the number of metro Edmonton residents receiving EI reached a low of 6,473 in 2007 (a boom year), spiked to 17,915 in 2009 during the global financial crisis, dropped to 9,778 during the economic recovery, only to spike again to an average of 27,388 in 2016 in the aftermath of the oil price collapse.
• In 2019, the number of metro Edmonton residents receiving EI dropped to 17,435.

Government Transfers. Government income supports (also known as income transfers), as well as other social programs and services, play an important role in the prevention of poverty.

For many people, hard work is not enough to break the cycle of poverty. Barriers to accessing well-paid employment include: limited English language proficiency, lower education completion, unrecognized international credentials, social isolation, limited access to child care, conflicting work and family responsibilities, and even the difficulties of navigating government programs. These barriers disproportionately affect visible minority groups (particularly newcomers), Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, and lone-parent women.

This data has been collected from external sources and should not always be attributed to ESPC. We would be happy to provide you with a specific reference for the data that you have used. Please click on the text to the right to request sourcing information, report an error or omission, or provide your comments