In August, 15,460 people received regular Employment Insurance benefits in Saskatchewan. That was an increase of only 0.3 per cent from the month before. It was a drop of 3.9 per cent from the same month the year before. In August, there were 6,840 E-I claims in Saskatchewan. That was a drop of 8.9 per cent from the previous month, which also happened to be the biggest drop of the nine provinces that saw declines. The number of claims provides an indication of the number of people who could become beneficiaries. That number also represented a drop of 0.1 per cent from the same month last year.

In terms of census metropolitan areas, Saskatoon registered 3,340 people receiving regular income benefits in August. That was a rise of 1.5 per cent from July. But, it was a drop of 8.2 per cent year-to-year. Regina had more than a thousand fewer people receiving regular income benefits at 2,140. That was a drop of 2.3 per cent month-to-month and a rise of 2.4 per cent year-to-year.