EI rolls double in Hamilton

The number of people receiving regular Employment Insurance benefits rose by 54,300, or 7.1 per cent in September after two months of declines.

The largest increases were in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia, Statistics Canada said Tuesday.

The number of beneficiaries — a measure of all persons who received EI benefits — reached 818,000, up 63.5 per cent from October 2008, when employment hit its peak.

From October 2008 to June 2009, the number of people receiving EI had increased sharply but has levelled off since then.

The number of beneficiaries more than doubled in several cities, with the fastest year-over-year increases in Calgary and Edmonton.