EI Calculator Canada 2026: weekly benefit, weeks and hours by economic region

How the EI calculator works

Employment Insurance regular benefits depend on three things, and two of them are decided by where you live:

1. Your average insurable earnings. Service Canada takes your highest-paid weeks in the qualifying period, between 14 and 22 of them depending on your regional unemployment rate, and averages them. The benefit is 55% of that average, capped at $729 per week in 2026 because insurable earnings stop at $68,900 a year.
2. Your hours. You need 420 to 700 hours of insurable employment in the last 52 weeks; the threshold is lower where unemployment is higher.
3. Your weeks. Schedule I of the Act is a grid of hours × unemployment rate that gives 14 to 45 weeks of benefits. The calculator reads the exact cell for your situation.

Add a one-week unpaid waiting period, the Family Supplement for low-income families with children, and you have your claim. Every number above comes from Service Canada and the Act (see methodology).

A worked claim: $52,000 a year, 1,400 hours, Toronto

A $52,000 salary is $1,000 a week. Toronto sits in the 6.1% to 7% unemployment band, so the best-weeks divisor is 21 and the hours required are 665; 1,400 hours clears the threshold. If the last 21 weeks were paid evenly, the average insurable earnings are $1,000 and the weekly benefit is 55% of that: $550. Schedule I, read at 1,400 hours (40 weeks of 35 hours) and the Toronto rate, gives 26 weeks. After the one-week waiting period, the claim pays $550 every week for 26 weeks, $14,300 in total before tax. The same person in a region above 16% unemployment would receive 45 weeks; in a region under 6%, 24.

Why the economic region changes everything

The 62 EI economic regions each have their own unemployment rate, published monthly. Here is what a $60,000 salary (about $1,154 a week) with 1,820 hours gives in nine of them, for the period September 6, 2026 to October 10, 2026:

Same salary, same hours, and the total ranges from $22,860 to $28,575. The full list with all regions is on the economic regions page.

The regional rate is locked in on the Sunday of the week your claim starts and does not change for the life of the claim, even if the region’s rate moves the following month. Because rates are refreshed every four weeks and can cross a band boundary by a tenth of a point, the week in which you apply can change your hours requirement by 35 hours, your divisor by one week and your entitlement by two weeks. Where a job ends on a Friday and the new rate takes effect two days later, it is worth checking both.

Key EI values 2026

Who qualifies for regular benefits

Beyond the hours, four conditions apply. You must have lost your job through no fault of your own: a layoff, the end of a contract, a shortage of work, or a dismissal that is not for misconduct; quitting without just cause disqualifies you, as the guide on quitting or being fired explains. You must have been without work and without pay for at least seven consecutive days in the last 52 weeks. You must be ready, willing and capable of working each day, and actively looking for work, keeping a record of your search that Service Canada can request. And you must have paid EI premiums: employees have them deducted automatically, while self-employed workers are covered for special benefits only and only if they registered at least twelve months earlier. Hours count from every insurable job in the qualifying period, whatever the employer.

Regions with the highest and lowest unemployment rates right now

Popular calculations

• EI on a $30,000 salary
• EI on a $40,000 salary
• EI on a $50,000 salary
• EI on a $60,000 salary
• EI on a $70,000 salary
• EI on a $80,000 salary
• EI on a $90,000 salary
• EI on a $100,000 salary

Applying: from last day of work to first payment

1. Apply online at canada.ca as soon as you stop working, and no later than four weeks after; you do not need to wait for the Record of Employment. Applying late can cost weeks, because the claim starts the Sunday of the week you apply.
2. Record of Employment. Your employer must file it within five days of the end of the pay period in which you stopped working; most are filed electronically and appear in My Service Canada Account. It lists your insurable hours and earnings and the reason for separation, which Service Canada uses to decide the claim.
3. Access code arrives by mail; use it to complete your first bi-weekly report and to check the status of the claim.
4. Decision within 28 days if nothing needs clarification. The first deposit follows the first report, covering two weeks minus the waiting week.
5. Bi-weekly reports for the life of the claim: earnings, availability, job search, absences. A missed report stops payment.
6. Disputes: request a reconsideration within 30 days of a decision, then appeal to the Social Security Tribunal.

Severance, vacation pay and the start of benefits

Money paid on separation is allocated to the weeks after your last day at your normal weekly rate, and benefits cannot begin until the allocation runs out. Two weeks of vacation pay and eight weeks of severance on a $1,000-a-week job push the first payable week ten weeks later, though the 52-week benefit period is extended by the same amount so no weeks are lost. Pension income from the job you left is also deducted from benefits unless you have since worked enough hours to requalify. Wages in lieu of notice count as earnings; damages for wrongful dismissal, moving expenses and retirement allowances rolled into an RRSP are not. Report every separation payment on the application; unreported amounts are recovered later with a penalty.

Taxes and the repayment

EI benefits are taxable income. Service Canada withholds federal and provincial tax at source, using tables that assume the benefit is your only income, so a claimant who earned a good salary earlier in the year often owes a balance in April. High earners face a second charge: if net income for the year exceeds 1.25 times the maximum insurable earnings, $86,125 in 2026, 30% of the lesser of the regular benefits received or the excess income must be repaid, unless it is a first claim in ten years. The taxes and repayment guide shows the arithmetic and the T4E slip.

7 things to check before you apply

1. Apply within 4 weeks of your last day, even without your Record of Employment: late applications lose weeks.
2. Count your hours from all jobs in the last 52 weeks, not only the last one.
3. Check your region by postal code: some cities straddle two regions with different rates.
4. Timing matters: rates are set on the day your claim starts and stay fixed for the whole claim, even if the region’s rate changes later.
5. Severance delays benefits: separation pay is allocated to weeks after your last day, pushing your start date.
6. Quitting without just cause or dismissal for misconduct disqualifies you. See quit or fired.
7. Report earnings every two weeks; working while on claim can still leave you ahead.

Common errors in EI decisions

Three problems account for most reconsideration requests. A weekly rate lower than expected because the best weeks include weeks of reduced pay, such as a final part-time stretch or a week of unpaid leave; check that the employer reported the pay period by period rather than as a lump sum. A weeks entitlement shorter than the table suggests because hours from a second job or a previous employer were not on file; a missing Record of Employment can be requested from the employer or, failing that, reconstructed by Service Canada from pay stubs. And a claim antedated too late because the application was filed after the four-week limit without good cause. In each case a reconsideration request within 30 days, with documents attached, is free and usually decided within a few weeks.

Sources

Every figure on this page comes from one of these official sources, read on 2026-09-16.

• Government of Canada — EI regular benefits: benefit amount and rate
• Employment Insurance Act, Schedule I — weeks of benefits by hours and regional rate
• Canada Employment Insurance Commission — 2026 premium rate and maximum insurable earnings
• Employment Insurance economic regions — unemployment rate in force from September 6, 2026 to October 10, 2026