A big spike in the employment insurance caseload in Belleville and Quinte West.
Statistics Canada says 2,140 people in the two cities got benefits in January, the last month information is available for. That is up from 1,780 in December, or a 20 per cent increase.
The E-I caseload in Belleville and Quinte West was also 20 per cent higher than it was in January, 2009. It was as low as 12-hundred recipients in late 2008, before the full effects of the recession were felt.
