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EI Calculator: Weekly Benefit and Weeks of EI

Updated

This calculator estimates your weekly Employment Insurance (EI) benefit and the most weeks you can get. Enter your average weekly insurable earnings (or your salary), the type of benefit, the year your claim starts, your region’s unemployment rate and your insurable hours. For how EI works, see the EI guide.

Estimated weekly EI benefit (before tax)
Weekly earnings used
Benefit rate
Maximum weekly benefit
Your weekly benefit
Weeks of benefits (maximum)
Total if paid for every week
Insurable hours / minimum needed

EI benefits are taxable. The one-week waiting period was waived for claims that start between March 30, 2025 and October 9, 2027; otherwise the first week is unpaid. Service Canada uses your best weeks of earnings, and your region's rate when you apply.

How it works

  1. Weekly benefit. 55% of your weekly insurable earnings, capped at the yearly maximum divided by 52 ($68,900 ÷ 52 in 2026), so the most you can get is $729 a week for a claim starting in 2026 and $749 in 2027.
  2. Eligibility. Regular benefits need 420 to 700 hours depending on your region; sickness and caregiving benefits need 600.
  3. Weeks. For regular benefits, the calculator reads the Employment Insurance Act’s table of weeks (Schedule I) for your hours and region. Sickness, compassionate care and family caregiver benefits have fixed maximums.

Service Canada uses your best weeks of earnings: from the best 14 weeks in the highest-unemployment regions to the best 22 in the lowest. Enter the average of those weeks if you know it; otherwise your salary divided by 52 is a reasonable estimate for steady full-time work.

Weeks of regular benefits

The most weeks you can get depends on both your hours and your region. A few rows of the table:

Insurable hours6% or less8.1% to 9%11.1% to 12%More than 16%
700 to 73414202636
1,050 to 1,08419253141
1,400 to 1,43424303645
1,820 or more36424545

Source: Employment Insurance Act, Schedule I. From 1,820 hours, the most is 36 weeks in a region at 6% or less and 45 weeks where unemployment is above 10%. Long-tenured workers whose claims start between June 15, 2025 and June 12, 2027 can get up to 20 extra weeks of regular benefits (to a maximum of 65).

Example

Someone earning $55,000 a year has weekly insurable earnings of $1,058. Their benefit is 55% of that, $582 a week. With 1,000 insurable hours in a region at 6% or less they qualify for 18 weeks, up to $10,471 in total before tax.

What the estimate doesn’t include

  • The family supplement, which can raise the rate to 80% for families with children and net income up to $25,921.
  • Earnings and separation pay. Work while on claim reduces EI (how much can I earn while on EI), and severance or vacation pay normally delays it (that was suspended for claims or allocations that start between March 30, 2025 and October 9, 2027).
  • Tax. EI is taxable, and tax is withheld from each payment. If your net income is above $86,125 (2026), you may repay part of your regular benefits when you file; see EI repayment at tax time.
  • Your region’s rate. Service Canada uses the rate for your EI economic region in effect when your claim starts, and the rates are updated regularly.

Maternity and parental benefits have their own rules; use the parental leave calculator or see maternity and parental benefits.

Sources

The figures and rules on this page come from these sources, last checked against them between September 23, 2026 and October 7, 2026. How we check facts.