Stats Canada published their monthly stats about the Employment Insurance rolls and surprisingly more folks are claiming EI again last month.

In April, 697,000 people received regular Employment Insurance benefits, up 18,600 from a month earlier. This 2.7% increase was the smallest in six months.

However, it is nice to see it is the smallest rise in 6 months.

The disheartening news is:

Since October 2008, the number of regular EI beneficiaries has risen by 39.3%, increasing in all provinces and territories, with the largest percentage growth in Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Ontario.

EI Claims still Increasing

Given one of the election argument points in the fall will be making EI claims easier, these numbers are bound to increase if the Financial Apocalypse continues until then.

RDSP Here But Not There

We have been researching RDSPs, but have found a very interesting issue with the large banks, only BMO, RBC and CIBC offer some sort of plan (which vary widely in what is offered, whether it is just GIC’s, mutual funds or a complete open trading account). The RDSP was introduced in the 2007 budget, but it is interesting that the banks seem to be dragging their feet on this service (for now).

The rules around the RDSP are very interesting as well, but I will elaborate on that more, after we research a little more. The Canadian Capitalist has already written about RDSPs as well.

With Summer coming very soon (on Sunday in fact), and Father’s Day on the same day this weekend looks to be an eventful one for us all.

Financially the week has seen the Nortel CEO Mike Z. standing in front of a group of Canadian politicians and saying, “It simply wasn’t feasible to pay severance,” , you have to respect his chutzpah, but when he started saying he might not get his sweetheart pension, I think he lost all credibility. With the CPI at 0.1% we are in interesting areas where allegedly our prices are not rising, yet the price of food is up 7.1% over 12 months, so the numbers are actually hiding a big issue (i.e. the poor and fixed income folks dealing with huge food price increases).  Evidently this means our interest rates may stay as low as they are for a while longer, which is just wild (IMHO).

Financial Blogging Views

Some interesting posts from my regular reads on the Financial blogging front:

• Techcrunch talks about the new Apple iPhone 3GS which is out today, will this entice more Canadians to sign up with Fido and Rogers (and their ridiculously expensive data plans)? I’m sticking with my iPod touch, thanks.
• Ellen Roseman has a little Fun and Games with her students at U of T’s continuing ed program, with Ellen Degenerates Share Club, she wins the funniest one liner of the week.
• Michael James points out that the CRA No Longer Taxing Loyalty Programs, with a few caveats added on. I wonder if my PC Points fit this new rule?
• The Canadian Capitalist points out that ‘Simply Save’ with TD Bank might be a no-brainer to sign up for, for someone like me who already does his banking with TD.
• Preet from WhereDoesAllMyMoneyGo points out that the Ultimate W Expert Challenge (which he is a part of) starts this weekend on Sunday! Worthwhile just to see and hear what Preet sounds like (since you aren’t likely to see me on the big screen any time soon).
• Larry MacDonald points out that Ontario Savings Bonds are on Sale (for a few days more), but wonders if it might be better just to go with high yield bank accounts?
• Riscario muses about The Three Major Obstacles to Growth according to Brian Tracy, which is a very interesting read.
• The Four Pillars writes about Freegans, which shouldn’t be confused with Veegans, and sound like the same guys who take my crap from the bottom of my driveway.

Stay tuned this weekend, there may not be a video interlude, but there might be something even more interesting. Enjoy the start of summer and remember to call your Dad on Father’s Day!

In the summertime when all the leaves and trees are green, and the gas prices double, I’ll be blue… OK, that is not how that song goes, but it looks like we are in for another summer of spiking gas prices again. Certainly can’t be blamed on demand this time, since the number of unemployed folk and folks not driving their gas inhaling SUV’s is up and down respectively, wonder what might be causing this? Maybe a secret Canadian Conspiracy to force the U.S. to rely heavily on the Tar Sands in Alberta? Not a bad concept, except this is driving the Canadian Dollar back up to equal value with the U.S. dollar, which will spike the Canadian Economic recovery if we are not careful.

Financial Blog Highlights

This week’s treasure trove of nuggets of wisdom are a wide spectrum of financial discussions:

• One Million and Beyond tackles the argument for the ages about money, Quality of Life and Frugality, can you live without your $5 latte? Yes, I can, but I can’t live without my digital cable, so I am just as guilty, really.
• Million Dollar Journey does a comprehensive comparison in High End Chequing Comparison, a good read for those who might be shopping around for a new bank.
• Michael James’ cynicism shows through in his post A Phone Call From Bell, but he isn’t wrong either. I’m sure if he asked the young lady to repeat “Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled Peppers” five times fast, and he’d agree to the deal, she might do it.
• The Canadian Capitalist tackles a topic near and dear to my heart in Tips on Safety Deposit Boxes. One thing he missed that you shouldn’t put in your safety deposit box, your spare dentures or eye glasses.
• Preet’s attempt at Television fame at Where Does All My Money Go continues on with Watch Me Compete on the W Network, he is entertaining to drink with, let’s hope it translates well to TV.
• Larry MacDonald discusses the Deflation Threat and is skeptical about hyper-inflation and deflation as well. I like reading cynics, makes me feel safer.
• The Canadian Tax Resource writes about Job Loss and Your Retirement Pension Options, interesting ideas, if you have the money or pension.

Don’t miss my weekend post on the one sure fire way to make some coin!

Friday Stats Canada did their Labour Survey for May and the numbers continue to be not encouraging. 

Following gains in April, employment decreased by 42,000 in May, led by further manufacturing losses in Ontario. The unemployment rate rose by 0.4 percentage points to 8.4%, the highest rate in 11 years. Since the employment peak of last October, employment has fallen by 363,000 or 2.1%.

Ontario seems to be taking the brunt of this economic downturn, which is not surprising really, as the manufacturing heartland would be where this might hurt the most, but with the Canadian Dollar strengthening there may be another “wammy” coming for Ontario.

In May 2009, there were 778,000 factory workers in Ontario, the lowest level since comparable data became available in 1976. Manufacturing employment in Ontario reached a peak in November 2002 with 1,115,000 workers.

Not encouraging for the manufacturing sector, but with the Auto sector being included in this group, not very surprsing either.

April 2009 Unemployment Numbers

Old Folks Getting Hit Hard

For old farts like me, there were less encouraging numbers as well.

Employment fell by 50,000 in May for persons aged 25 to 54, with losses of 28,000 among men and 22,000 among women. Since the start of the labour market downturn, however, it is men in this age group who have experienced most of the losses, down 3.4%, while employment among core-age women has fallen by 1.1% over the same period.

Doesn’t anyone want old cunning folk over young exhuberant folk?