I think you may actually be talking about three separate things. There's the unemployment rate, which reports on the number of people who are unemployed and actively searching for employment as a proportion of the total labour force. That would be your 7% or 8% number. The people who are receiving employment insurance benefits are a separate population who have paid EI premiums, who have lost their job through no fault of their own, and who are currently receiving EI benefits. There can be, at times, another group of people who are the so-called discouraged workers—
On May 28th, 2012. See this statement in context.