Oshawa's 96% jump in employment insurance recipients leads country

Even before the economic shocks of the past two months, Ontario's motor cities — Oshawa and Windsor — showed the biggest increases anywhere in the country in numbers of people on employment insurance.

In the third week of September, 480,400 people across the country were getting regular EI benefits, Statistics Canada reported Tuesday. That total was up 3.9 per cent from a year earlier.

Among provinces, Ontario showed the biggest jump with 14 per cent.

Among cities, Oshawa, home of General Motors of Canada, showed the biggest by far — 96.4 per cent.

Windsor, home of Chrysler Canada, showed the second biggest — 30.4 per cent.

Both cities have been hit by layoffs and plant closings by companies now seeking government bailouts on both sides of the border to prevent the disappearance of a North American-based auto industry.

The U.S. Congress has been deadlocked on the issue but president-elect Barack Obama said this week that "we can't allow the auto industry simply to vanish."

Statistics Canada gathers unemployment insurance statistics for a week near the middle of each month. The figures here include those receiving regular benefits (for example, as a result of layoff) but not special benefits (for example, as a result of illness).