More people in Prince George relied on Employment Insurance to begin 2017 according to Stats Canada.
Analyst Melissa Moyser says the city saw a bigger jump looking into the yearly figures.
“The number of people receiving regular employment insurance benefits in Prince George during January saw little change with December at 2,130 but on a year-over-year basis the number of beneficiaries in the city was up by 230 people or 12.1%.”
Moyser adds Ottawa made some recent rule changes to the program last July which resulted in the spike. “There were 15 regions who posted notable increases in unemployment which saw eligible claimants getting a few extra weeks of benefits. Northern British Columbia was one of the affected regions.”
In BC, 55,340 residents received benefits in January.
That’s an increase of 1.9% compared to the same time last year.
It’s a far cry compared to Alberta who experienced the biggest yearly jump in EI recipients at 41.2% bringing their total to 91,730.
In Canada, just under 568,000 people collected pogge at the start of the new year.