Statistics Canada reported Thursday that the number of out-of-work Albertans collecting employment insurance has risen 91% since January 2015.
The news offers yet another glimpse into how the diving oil prices have impacted the energy-dependent Prairie province.
The agency said 63,800 Albertans received EI in January, up 2% from the month before. The number of EI recipients leaped 2.4% in Edmonton, and 1.7% in Calgary
In all, the nation's number-crunchers said, 543,100 Canadians received EI benefits in January, virtually unchanged from the month before. But on a year-over-year basis, the total ballooned 7.1% -- mostly due to the increases in Alberta.
Alberta has been hit hard by the oil price slump and has seen its jobless rate rise to 7.9% -- the highest level outside Atlantic Canada.
Earlier this week, the Trudeau government announced that the rules governing EI would be changing to help resource-dependent provinces.
The federal budget will add five weeks to the regular 45 weeks of EI benefits that workers in 12 resource-dependent regions receive, as of July but retroactive to January 2015.
The budget will also cut the two-week waiting period for benefits to one week starting next year, and add $73 million over two years to hire more people at overwhelmed Service Canada call centres.
