There weren't as many Canadians garnering employment insurance in April as the month before.
Figures released by Statistics Canada early Thursday put the figure at 538,400 people drawing EI benefits, down 4,900, or 0.9% from March.
The agency went on to say that the number of EI beneficiaries decreased in five provinces in April, most notably in Ontario (-2.4%), British Columbia (-2.2%) and Newfoundland and Labrador (-2.0%). There were also fewer beneficiaries in Saskatchewan (-1.7%) and New Brunswick (-1.5%).
On the other hand, the number of recipients increased 1.2% in Alberta and 1% in Prince Edward Island. Little change was observed in the remaining provinces.
The nation's number-crunchers conclude that, on a year-over-year basis, the total number of EI beneficiaries in Canada was up by 12,400 or 2.4%, mainly as a result of increases that occurred early in the summer of 2015.
