About

Why build another EI calculator?

Because the headline figures, 55% of earnings up to $729 a week, are the easy part. Whether you qualify at all, and for how many weeks, depends on the economic region where you live and on its unemployment rate, which Service Canada updates about once a month. Two people with the same job and the same hours can get very different claims in Toronto and in Northern Manitoba. We wanted a tool that starts from the region.

What happens between your entries and the result?

1. Your province narrows the list to its economic regions; the region you pick brings its current unemployment rate, one of 62 in the table in force from October 11, 2026 to November 7, 2026.
2. That rate sets the insurable hours you need, from 420 to 700, and the number of best weeks Service Canada would average.
3. Your pay is converted to a weekly amount and capped at the maximum insurable earnings of $68,900 divided by 52.
4. The weekly benefit is 55% of that amount, rounded and limited to $729, or up to 80% with the Family Supplement when the family net income is under $25,921.
5. The number of weeks is read from Schedule I of the Employment Insurance Act, crossing your hours with the regional rate band.
6. Temporary measures are applied by claim start date: the waived waiting week and, for long-tenured workers, up to 20 extra weeks.

One simplification matters: the calculator treats the pay you enter as your average weekly insurable earnings, whereas Service Canada averages your actual best weeks from your Records of Employment. The methodology lists this and the other limits.

Where does the regional data come from?

From Service Canada’s table of EI economic regions, which a script downloads into the site’s data each time a new rate period is published, together with the hours and weeks attached to each rate. The national parameters for 2026, from the benefit rate to the premium rates, sit in a separate dated file with the address of each Government of Canada page they were read from.

Who is behind the site?

Radif Partners, a small independent publisher based in Clermont-Ferrand, France, which builds online calculators. We are not a government website and have no link with Employment and Social Development Canada, Service Canada or the Canada Employment Insurance Commission. We are not lawyers either: the estimate does not decide your claim, which only Service Canada can do.

How is it paid for?

The calculator is free to use. Some pages hold advertising spaces, never placed above the calculator, and your entries are not collected, so there is nothing to sell.

Seen a stale rate?

Tell us at contact@myeicanada.com. Our privacy policy and terms are linked here.

Rates 2026, last updated 2026-10-01.