In July, 536,600 people received regular Employment Insurance (EI) benefits, up 6,800 (+1.3%) from June. This is the first increase in the number of beneficiaries in eight months. The increase reflects a reduction in the waiting period to receive EI benefits from two weeks to one week, effective January 1, 2017, which disproportionately affected occupations in educational services in July. The reference week for July 2017 falls two weeks after the end of the school year for many school boards across Canada, and with the reduced waiting period, more beneficiaries in education were observed during that time than was the case in previous years.

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