Alberta EI claims jump 70% after Fort McMurray fire

The scale of work disruptions from the Fort McMurray wildfire is being born out in employment insurance numbers from Alberta that show a record level of applicants.

Statistics Canada says EI applications soared 70 per cent from April to May for a 22,800 increase in what it says is the largest monthly gain in any province since it started tracking the numbers in 1997.

Alberta recorded a 58.6 per cent year-over-year increase in EI recipients.

• Alberta recession one of the most severe ever, TD Economics report finds

Actual EI recipients jumped 12.1 per cent in May from a monthearlier to 77,800, the largest increase since June 2009.

Almost a third of the new recipients are in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, which includes FortMcMurray.

"The number of beneficiaries in Wood Buffalo more than doubled from1,900in April to4,500in May," Statistics Canada said in a release.

"This increase coincided with the wildfire in northern Alberta, which resulted in the evacuation of residents from the FortMcMurrayarea in early May."

In Calgary, the EI rolls swelled from the previous month by 6.8 per cent to reach 24,040 and in Edmonton by 8.4 per cent to reach 24,260.

Nationallythe number of people collecting EI was up by a modest 2.4 per cent. But the number of new EI claims which provides an indication of the number of people who could become beneficiaries rose by 9.7 per cent from April to May of this year.

"Most of the national increase was attributable to a higher number of claims in Alberta," Statistics Canada said.

• MORE ALBERTA NEWS|2nd bear attack in 2 days sends cyclist to hospital in Canmore
• MORE ALBERTA NEWS|Canada's crime index rises for 1st time in 12 years, lifted by spike in Alberta