Canadian · Employment Insurance
EI benefits calculator.
Estimate Employment Insurance regular benefits for 2026: the weekly rate, how many weeks you can draw, and the total. Uses the current maximum insurable earnings and the weeks table in the Employment Insurance Act.
EI regular benefits pay 55% of your average insurable weekly earnings, up to a ceiling. For 2026 the maximum insurable earnings are $68,900 a year, which caps the benefit at $729 a week.
How many weeks you get is not a percentage: it comes from a table in the Employment Insurance Act that reads your insurable hours against the unemployment rate in your EI economic region. The answer is between 14 and 45 weeks, and a temporary measure can add 20 more.
Inputs
Result
Enter your earnings, regional rate and insurable hours.
The 2026 numbers this calculator uses
- Benefit rate: 55% of average insurable weekly earnings.
- Maximum insurable earnings, 2026: $68,900 a year, which is $1,325.00 a week.
- Maximum weekly benefit, 2026: $729.
- Hours to qualify: 420 to 700, from the table in section 7(2) of the Employment Insurance Act, depending on your regional rate.
- Weeks payable: 14 to 45, from Schedule I of the Employment Insurance Act, read off your hours against your regional rate.
- Best weeks divisor: 14 to 22 weeks, depending on your regional rate.
- Waiting period: normally one unpaid week, but waived for claims starting between 30 March 2025 and 10 October 2026.
- Separation payments: for claims or allocations starting between 30 March 2025 and 10 October 2026, severance and other separation earnings are not deducted from benefits.
- Extra weeks: 20 additional weeks of regular benefits, to a maximum of 65, on claims starting between 15 June 2025 and 10 October 2026 for claimants who received fewer than 36 weeks of regular or fishing benefits in the previous 3 years.
Sources, last verified 2 September 2026: Service Canada — EI regular benefits: how much you could receive, ESDC — maximum insurable earnings for 2026, Employment Insurance Act, s. 7(2), Employment Insurance Act, Schedule I, Service Canada — temporary EI measures.
A separate temporary measure that added one percentage point to every region's unemployment rate ran from 6 April 2025 to 11 October 2025 and has expired. This calculator uses the ordinary, unadjusted rate you enter.
What this tool does not work out: the family supplement, which can lift the rate as high as 80% for claimants with children and a net family income of $25,921 or less, and the tax withheld at source. EI is taxable income — the income tax calculator will tell you roughly what bracket the benefits land in, and the paycheck calculator covers the working side of the same year.
Frequently asked questions
How much EI will I get per week in 2026?
55% of your average insurable weekly earnings, to a maximum of $729 a week. The cap comes from the maximum insurable earnings of $68,900 for 2026: $68,900 divided by 52 is $1,325.00 a week, and 55% of that is $728.75, which Service Canada states as $729.
If you earned $1,325 a week or more, you get the maximum. Below that, you get 55% of your own average, so a $1,000 week produces about $550.
How many weeks of EI can I get?
Between 14 and 45 weeks. It is read off Schedule I of the Employment Insurance Act, a grid with your insurable hours down one side and your region's unemployment rate across the top. More hours and a higher regional rate both push the number up.
A worker with 1,400 hours in a region at 7% gets 26 weeks. The same hours in a region at 12% get 36. On claims starting on or before 10 October 2026, a temporary measure adds 20 weeks on top, to a ceiling of 65, if you drew fewer than 36 weeks of regular or fishing benefits in the previous three years.
How many hours do I need to qualify for EI?
Between 420 and 700 hours of insurable employment in the qualifying period, which is normally the last 52 weeks. The exact number is set by section 7(2) of the Employment Insurance Act and falls as your regional unemployment rate rises: 700 hours where the rate is 6% or under, 630 where it is above 7% but not above 8%, and 420 where it is above 13%.
A previous violation on your record raises the requirement, in some cases to 1,400 hours.
Does severance pay delay my EI?
Normally yes. Severance, termination pay, vacation pay on termination and similar separation payments are treated as earnings and allocated to weeks after you stop working, which pushes your benefits back.
That rule is suspended for the moment. For claims or allocations starting between 30 March 2025 and 10 October 2026, separation earnings are not deducted from benefits, so you can receive EI without first exhausting a severance package. Apply as soon as you stop working rather than waiting for the package to run out — a late application can cost you weeks.
Is there still a one-week waiting period?
Not right now. The waiting period is normally one unpaid week at the start of a claim, but it is waived on all initial claims starting between 30 March 2025 and 10 October 2026, so benefits run from the first week.
One exception is worth knowing: if your employer tops your benefits up under a registered Supplemental Unemployment Benefit plan, serving the waiting period may still work out better for you.
What are "best weeks" and why do they matter?
Service Canada does not average every week you worked. It takes your highest-paid weeks in the qualifying period and divides by a fixed number — the divisor — which runs from 14 weeks in a high-unemployment region to 22 in a low-unemployment one.
The catch is that the divisor is fixed. If your divisor is 22 but you only have 18 weeks of earnings, the total is still divided by 22, which drags your weekly rate down. Seasonal and part-time workers feel this most.
Is EI taxable?
Yes. EI benefits are taxable income and federal and provincial tax is withheld from each payment. Service Canada issues a T4E, and the withholding is often less than you actually owe, so a balance can come due at filing time.
If your net income for the year is high enough, you may also have to repay part of your regular benefits — the clawback commonly called the EI benefit repayment.
Can I get EI if I quit or was fired?
Usually not if you quit without just cause, or were dismissed for misconduct. EI regular benefits are for people who lost work through no fault of their own — a shortage of work, a layoff, the end of a seasonal or contract job.
"Just cause" is a defined idea, not a general sense of unfairness, and it does cover real situations: harassment, a significant change to your duties or pay, unsafe conditions. If you think it applies to you, apply anyway and explain the circumstances; the decision is Service Canada's to make.
Estimate only — not legal or financial advice
This calculator is an estimate. It is not an application, not a decision, and not advice. Only Service Canada can decide whether you qualify, at what rate, and for how many weeks, and it works from your actual Records of Employment rather than the numbers you type here.
It also leaves things out on purpose: the family supplement, tax withheld at source, benefit repayment for higher earners, prior violations, and the special rules for fishing, self-employed and seasonal claimants. Apply through Service Canada as soon as you stop working, and check the current figures at the source links above before relying on any number on this page.