Statistics Canada says the number of people receiving regular employment insurance benefits edged up by 4,200, or 0.8 per cent, to 544,700 in December.

The agency says the number of beneficiaries remained relatively stable during the final quarter of the year, but was down 109,400 or 16.7 per cent, compared with 12 months earlier.

Over the same period, the unemployment rate dropped by just 0.1 percentage points to 7.5 per cent.

There were more people receiving benefits in six provinces, with the largest percentage increases occurring in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Ontario.

The largest decline of employment insurance beneficiaries came in Newfoundland and Labrador.

In 2011, the number of people receiving EI benefits dropped in 131 of 143 large centres of 10,000 people or more.

In December, 337,500 men received regular benefits, down 16 per cent from December 2010.

There were 211,600 women on EI, down 15.9 per cent from 12 months earlier.

Erin Weir, an economist with United Steelworkers Canada, said the drop in EI claimants reflects a failure of the system to help those that are unemployed.

While the number of beneficiaries dropped, it dropped faster than the number of unemployed in Canada, which fell by just 11,700 in 2011. "The implication is that many newly unemployed workers were unable to access EI benefits and/or many former EI recipients exhausted their benefits without finding jobs," he said.

"With unemployment on the rise, the federal government should consider improving the accessibility and duration of EI benefits in its upcoming budget," Weir added.

With files from The Canadian Press