Statistics Canada said Tuesday that 778,700 people received regular Employment Insurance benefits, up 65,600, or 9.2%, from a month earlier.

The rise followed an increase of 3.7% in April.

The number of people receiving regular benefits in May was the highest since comparable data became available in 1997, the government agency said.

Alberta and Ontario showed the fastest rates of increase during May.

In Alberta, the number of regular beneficiaries grew by 16.8% to 57,000 in May.

In Ontario, the number of regular EI beneficiaries increased by 16.0% to 274,100 from April to May, bringing total increases since October 2008 to 119,500.

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/090728/dq090728a-eng.htm