This EI calculator estimates Employment Insurance (EI) regular benefits, the payments for people who lose a job through no fault of their own: the weekly amount before tax, how many weeks it lasts and the total over the claim. It follows the method Service Canada publishes and uses the 2026 figures. It is an estimate for planning, not a decision: only Service Canada decides whether a claim qualifies and what it pays, and the exact figures appear in My Service Canada Account once a claim is processed.
How do you use this EI calculator?
- Enter your pay before the job ended. Choose yearly salary, weekly pay or hourly wage. Use gross pay before tax, including tips, commissions and bonuses. If pay varied from week to week, choose weekly pay and enter the average of the best-paid weeks.
- Enter your regional unemployment rate. Service Canada’s “EI Program Characteristics” lookup gives the rate for each EI economic region by postal code. It changes every month, and the rate in force when the claim starts is the one that counts.
- Enter your insurable hours in the last 52 weeks (or since the last claim, if that is shorter). Records of Employment in My Service Canada Account list them. If Service Canada has already stated your weeks of entitlement, choose the option to enter the weeks directly instead.
- Pick the claim-start scenario: standard rules with the one-week waiting period, the temporary EI measures, or next calendar year with the new maximum.
- Open “More options” to add part-time earnings while on claim, the long-tenured worker extension, the Quebec premium rate and the family-supplement income test.
- Read the results: the weekly benefit, weeks payable and total, then the tables by regional rate, by pay level and by scenario, and a week-by-week schedule that downloads as CSV.
How much EI will you get in 2026?
EI regular benefits are 55% of average insurable weekly earnings, up to a maximum of $729 a week for claims that start in 2026. Service Canada adds up insurable earnings in the best-paid weeks of the qualifying period, divides by the number of best weeks for the region, and multiplies by 55%. The weekly rate is then fixed for the life of the claim.
The cap comes from the maximum yearly insurable earnings of $68,900. Divided by 52, that is $1,325.00 of insurable earnings a week, and 55% of that is $728.75, which Service Canada publishes as the $729 maximum. Anyone paid more than $68,900 a year gets the same $729 a week.
| Yearly pay | Weekly pay | Weekly EI benefit | Share of pay replaced | Total over 40 weeks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $30,000 | $576.92 | $317 | 54.9% | $12,680 |
| $45,000 | $865.38 | $476 | 55% | $19,040 |
| $55,000 | $1,057.69 | $582 | 55% | $23,280 |
| $68,900 | $1,325.00 | $729 | 55% | $29,160 |
| $90,000 | $1,730.77 | $729 | 42.1% | $29,160 |
| $120,000 | $2,307.69 | $729 | 31.6% | $29,160 |
How to read this table: every row assumes steady pay and the same 40 weeks of benefits. Below the insurable maximum, the benefit tracks pay at 55%. Above it, the benefit stops growing, so the share of pay EI replaces keeps falling as salary rises. The calculator adds a row for the pay entered and shows the next-year maximum as a scenario.
How many weeks of EI can you get?
EI regular benefits last between 14 and 45 weeks. The number depends on two things: insurable hours worked in the qualifying period, and the unemployment rate in the EI economic region when the claim starts. Between 420 and 700 hours are needed to qualify at all, with fewer hours needed where unemployment is higher. The table below pulls three columns of the official weeks table together with the hours needed and the number of best weeks averaged for each regional rate.
| Regional unemployment rate | Hours needed to qualify | Best weeks averaged | Weeks with 700 to 734 hours | Weeks with 1,400 to 1,434 hours | Weeks with 1,820 hours or more |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6% and less | 700 | 22 | 14 | 24 | 36 |
| 6.1% to 7.0% | 665 | 21 | 16 | 26 | 38 |
| 7.1% to 8.0% | 630 | 20 | 18 | 28 | 40 |
| 8.1% to 9.0% | 595 | 19 | 20 | 30 | 42 |
| 9.1% to 10.0% | 560 | 18 | 22 | 32 | 44 |
| 10.1% to 11.0% | 525 | 17 | 24 | 34 | 45 |
| 11.1% to 12.0% | 490 | 16 | 26 | 36 | 45 |
| 12.1% to 13.0% | 455 | 15 | 28 | 38 | 45 |
| 13.1% to 14.0% | 420 | 14 | 30 | 40 | 45 |
| 14.1% to 15.0% | 420 | 14 | 32 | 42 | 45 |
| 15.1% to 16.0% | 420 | 14 | 34 | 44 | 45 |
| 16% and more | 420 | 14 | 36 | 45 | 45 |
How to read this table: find the regional rate, then read across. A full-time worker with a year of 35-hour weeks has 1,820 hours, which gets the most weeks the region allows. Someone with 700 hours qualifies everywhere but gets far fewer weeks where unemployment is low. “Best weeks averaged” is the divisor Service Canada uses to set the weekly rate: the highest-paid 14 to 22 weeks count, so a few weak weeks at the end of a job do not drag the benefit down. The calculator applies the full official table, one row for every 35 hours from 420 up.
Seasonal workers can qualify for extra weeks under a separate table, still capped at 45 weeks, and the temporary measures add weeks for long-tenured workers, as explained below.
Worked example: a $55,000 salary after a full year of work
A worker earning $55,000 a year is laid off after a full year of 35-hour weeks, so 1,820 insurable hours, in a region where unemployment is 7.5%. The claim starts under standard rules.
- Weekly insurable earnings: $1,057.69, under the $1,325.00 weekly maximum, so all of it counts.
- Weekly benefit: 55% × $1,057.69 = $581.73, or $582 a week before tax.
- Weeks payable: 1,820 hours at a rate in the 7.1% to 8.0% band gives 40 weeks.
- Total: $23,280 before tax, paid from the second week of unemployment because the first is the unpaid waiting week. For a claim starting inside the temporary window described below, there is no waiting week and payments cover the first week.
If unemployment in the region were one point higher, at 8.5%, the same hours would give 42 weeks and $24,444 in total. Tax comes off each payment, and the income tax calculator shows how EI adds to employment income for the year.
Worked example: pay above the EI maximum
A worker earning $90,000 a year has the same 1,820 hours and 7.5% regional rate. Weekly pay is $1,730.77, but only $1,325.00 of it is insurable, so the benefit is the $729 maximum: 42.1% of pay rather than 55%. Over 40 weeks that is $29,160 before tax.
If the same claim started in 2027, the higher maximum of $749 a week, based on $70,800 of maximum insurable earnings, would give $29,960. Higher earners feel the cap most, which is why an emergency fund sized with the calculator matters more as salary rises: EI covers a shrinking share of take-home pay.
Can you work part-time while on EI?
Yes. Under the Working While on Claim rule, 50% of what is earned in a week is deducted from that week’s benefit, up to 90% of previous weekly earnings; above that point, earnings are deducted dollar for dollar. Service Canada’s own example: a worker whose weekly earnings were $500 has a weekly benefit rate of $275. Earning $300 a week at a part-time job reduces the benefit by $150, to $125, so total income that week is $425 instead of $275 on EI alone. The calculator reproduces this example exactly in its tests.
Two limits matter. Earnings above $450 in that example would each cost a full dollar of benefit. And a full week of work pays no benefit for that week, although it does not remove a week from the claim. Every dollar earned must be declared on the report for that period; undeclared earnings create overpayments that must be repaid.
What are the EI premium rates for 2026 and 2027?
The EI premium rate for employees outside Quebec is 1.63% of insurable earnings in 2026, charged on pay up to $68,900, for a maximum employee premium of $1,123.07. Quebec workers pay a lower rate because Quebec runs its own parental insurance plan, and employers pay 1.4 times the employee premium. For 2027, the rate is 1.64% on pay up to $70,800. The calculator shows the premium on the pay entered, as a reminder of what that pay has contributed.
How to read this table: Each row is one calendar year. The premium rate applies to insurable earnings up to the maximum, which also sets the maximum weekly benefit for claims starting that year. Quebec rates are lower because QPIP replaces EI maternity and parental benefits there.
| Year | Maximum insurable earnings | Employee rate | Maximum employee premium | Employee rate in Quebec | Maximum in Quebec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2027 | $70,800 | 1.64% | $1,161.12 | 1.29% | $913.32 |
| 2026 | $68,900 | 1.63% | $1,123.07 | 1.3% | $895.70 |
| 2025 | $65,700 | 1.64% | $1,077.48 | 1.31% | $860.67 |
| 2024 | $63,200 | 1.66% | $1,049.12 | 1.32% | $834.24 |
| 2023 | $61,500 | 1.63% | $1,002.45 | 1.27% | $781.05 |
| 2022 | $60,300 | 1.58% | $952.74 | 1.2% | $723.60 |
Source: CPP contribution rates, maximums and exemptions — Canada.ca (all-years table, 2022 to 2026); Second additional CPP contribution (CPP2) rates and maximums — Canada.ca; Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and the CPP enhancement — Canada.ca (self-employed rates); EI premium rates and maximums — Canada.ca (federal table, 2022 to 2027); EI premium rates and maximums — Canada.ca (Quebec table, 2022 to 2027); EI premium rates and maximums — Canada.ca (employer premium multiplier); 2026 Benefit Amounts and Key Data — Retraite Québec (QPP maximums for workers and employers); 2026 Benefit Amounts and Key Data — Retraite Québec (QPP maximums for self-employed workers). In effect from January 1, 2026 to December 31, 2026; checked September 29, 2026.
When do EI payments arrive?
EI has no fixed payment calendar like the Canada Child Benefit or the GST/HST credit on the CRA payment dates page. Payments follow reports: every claimant completes a report every 2 weeks, online or by phone, and a payment is issued once each report is processed. After submitting a report, Service Canada gives the date of the next one, with 3 weeks to send it.
The first payment takes longest. Service Canada says it comes about 28 days after applying, for an eligible claim with all information provided, and its service standard is a decision within 28 days of applying, met 80% of the time. Employers should issue the Record of Employment within 5 calendar days after the final pay period; a missing ROE is a common cause of delay. The schedule table in the calculator groups the weeks of a claim into report periods, so it shows which weeks each report covers.
How do the temporary EI measures change the estimate?
Four temporary measures apply to claims starting in set windows. Canada.ca previously gave October 10, 2026 as the end date for the first three; the page now shows the later dates below and lists the fourth measure:
- No waiting week for all new claims starting from March 30, 2025 to October 9, 2027, so benefits are paid from the first week.
- Separation earnings are not deducted (severance, vacation pay, pay in lieu of notice) when the claim or allocation starts in the same window. The Ontario severance pay calculator estimates what an employer may owe.
- Twenty extra weeks for long-tenured workers with claims starting from June 15, 2025 to June 12, 2027, up to 65 weeks in total. This window closes about four months before the others.
- Only the most recent reason for separation is reviewed for claims starting from October 11, 2026 to October 9, 2027. When the latest job was lost through no fault of the worker, all insurable hours in the qualifying period count, including hours from an earlier job that was quit. The calculator does not test this rule; it takes the insurable hours as entered.
For the $55,000 example, a long-tenured worker would get 60 weeks, or $34,920, with no waiting week. Long-tenured means fewer than 36 weeks of regular or fishing benefits in the 3 years before the claim, and EI premiums of at least 30% of the yearly maximum in at least 7 of the 10 years before the claim year. The waiting-week waiver ends with claims starting on October 9, 2027 and the extra weeks with claims starting on June 12, 2027, unless the government extends them again. A claim starting in 2027 inside those windows gets the same treatment at the 2027 maximum, and the calculator lets each scenario be compared side by side.
How does the calculator work out the numbers?
- Weekly pay: yearly pay ÷ 52, weekly pay as entered, or hourly wage × hours a week.
- Weekly insurable earnings: the lower of weekly pay and maximum insurable earnings ÷ 52.
- Weekly benefit: 55% × weekly insurable earnings, rounded to the dollar, never above the maximum weekly benefit.
- Weeks payable: the official table cell for the hours and regional rate (or the weeks entered), plus the temporary extra weeks when the temporary-measures or next-year scenario and the long-tenured option are both chosen, capped at 65.
- Part-time earnings: 50% of earnings up to 90% of weekly insurable earnings, plus 100% of earnings above that, deducted from the weekly benefit, never below zero.
- Total and schedule: weekly payment × weeks payable, with the waiting week (if any) shown first as unpaid and each week assigned to its two-week report period.
The tests behind the calculator reproduce Service Canada’s published figures: the $729 maximum from $68,900, the $468 weekly rate on $850 of weekly earnings, the Working While on Claim example above, and the first qualifying row of every column of the weeks table checked against the hours needed to qualify.
Common mistakes when estimating EI
- Using take-home pay. The benefit is based on gross insurable earnings, and tax is then deducted from the EI payment itself.
- Assuming 55% of any salary. Above $68,900 a year the benefit stops at $729 a week, so every salary above that level gets the same weekly amount.
- Guessing the regional rate. A point or two changes both the hours needed and the weeks payable. The official lookup by postal code gives the right figure.
- Waiting to apply. An application can go in as soon as work stops, even before the Record of Employment arrives; a late application can mean lost benefits.
- Counting on EI as the whole plan. Even a full claim replaces at most 55% of insurable pay, before tax. Cash in a high-interest savings account for emergencies or a TFSA covers the gap and the first weeks before payments start.
- Forgetting the tax bill. EI is taxable; a year with a good salary and EI together can land in a higher bracket, as the 2026 tax brackets show.
When is it worth talking to someone?
Service Canada is the only source of a real decision: call or visit when a claim is refused, a Record of Employment is wrong, or the hours look short. A refused claim can be reconsidered if the request is made within 30 days after the decision is communicated. An employment lawyer or a legal clinic can help with severance and termination questions, and a tax professional can help plan for tax owed on EI income. For families, EI sits alongside the Canada Child Benefit, which is recalculated each July from the previous year’s family net income.