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A marginal decline meant the number of EI recipients in the Calgary area fell for the first time in nearly two years in June, but the number of people receiving benefits in the city remains near a historic high.

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There were 23,900 people receiving benefits in June, down by 0.6 per cent — or 140 — from May. While the drop ended a 21-month string of increases, EI rolls in the Calgary area are among the largest the Calgary region has ever seen, with June’s tally the sixth highest since January 1997, according to Statistics Canada data.

The number of EI recipients in the Calgary region peaked in July 2009, at 25,090, as Alberta was grappling with the fallout from the global financial crisis.

Compared with June 2015, the number of people receiving EI in and around Calgary was up 44.9 per cent.

Provincewide, the number of EI beneficiaries in Alberta declined slightly, dropping by 0.8 per cent in June, to 77,200. The number of recipients in the province was up 48 per cent from June 2015.

The number of EI claims was down sharply in Alberta, dropping 44.7 per cent from May, when Fort McMurray was shut down for weeks due to fire. On a seasonally adjusted basis, the number of claims in June was the lowest in eight months.

Nationally, there were 545,900 EI beneficiaries, essentially unchanged from the previous month, but up 1.5 per cent from June 2015.