The number of Canadians getting regular employment insurance benefits rose to 575,200 in July, 4.4 per cent more than the previous month, largely because of new rules to extend benefits to areas hard hit by the recent economic downturn.

Statistics Canada reported Thursday that the monthly figures for July were higher than they would otherwise have been largely because of recent moves by Ottawa to extend extra EI benefits to 15 areas across the country that the government has deemed to be especially hard hit by the recent economic downturn.

They are:

Newfoundland and Labrador.

Northern Ontario.

Sudbury.

Northern Manitoba.

Southern Saskatchewan.

Northern Saskatchewan.

Saskatoon.

Southern Alberta.

Northern Alberta.

Calgary.

Edmonton.

Southern Interior British Columbia.

Northern British Columbia.

Whitehorse.

Nunavut.

Outside of those areas, the EI numbers weren't nearly as volatile.

"This unusual month-to-month increase can be explained by EI legislative changes that came into effect in July 2016," the data agency said in a release.

The number of claims ballooned to 307,600 in July, up 33.4 per cent, compared with the same month a year ago. Again, Statistics Canada says much of the increase can be attributed to extended benefits in those 15 areas.

About 87,000 of those claims were "one-time automatic renewals related to the recent EI program changes."

New rules extending EI benefits to hard-hit areas came into effect in July. (The Canadian Press )

"These accounted for almost a quarter of the total volume of claims in July," Statistics Canada said.

There was one aspect of the numbers released Thursday that suggest a much rosier economic picture. Initial claims are claims for EI from people who weren't previous receiving benefits, and are unaffected by the recent EI changes.

Nationally, in the 12 months to July, the total number of initial claims was down 2.1 per cent to 239,600, the data agency said.

Declines were observed in most provinces, with the largest decreases in Newfoundland and Labrador, Saskatchewan and Alberta.

Ontario was the only province to post an increase in the number of initial EI claims, where they were up by 20 per cent. But that figure "can be attributed to the relatively low number of claims in July 2015 for this province," Statistics Canada said.