A new report had revealed that the number of individuals in Alberta on employment insurance (EI) has considerably spiked, although employment agencies claim that it is still possible to land a job despite the figures.

In particular, the number of Albertans on EI saw a year-over-year increase of 57%, the Statistics Canada report found.

Learn more about employment insurance here.

The report also detailed that the number of people in the province collecting EI went up 3.4% in November over the previous month. Calgary saw a jump of 5.1% and Edmonton 4.9%.

Employment agencies say that despite the numbers, some would-be employees are managing to get by thanks to slight improvements in the economy.

“The job search side of things, definitely getting more inquiries and lots of people not just being reactive to the fact that they’ve lost a job, but thinking proactively about what to do if I lose my job because there are some feelings of pending doom in this economy,” Michelle Cook of Calgary Career Counselling told CTV News.

Cook explained that those looking for employment should go for it, but should avoid common errors.

“People don’t realize that they need to tailor their resume to each different position, and that doesn’t mean drastically changing content always, it can even be placement of content and using the real estate in the resume a little bit differently,” she said.

She also recommended that job hunters should make contacts as much as possible.

This month, the federal budget will provide relief to 15 areas of the country; those areas will receive extended EI.


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