EI regular benefits pay 55% of your average weekly insurable earnings over your best 14 to 22 weeks, up to $729 a week (the maximum as of January 1, 2026), for between 14 and 45 weeks. Take a seasonal tourism worker in the Gaspésie region of Quebec who put in 990 insured hours over a 22-week summer and whose best weeks averaged $1,143.75. That claim pays $629.06 a week for 30 weeks, and the same 990 hours would buy only 20 weeks in Toronto.
That gap is what a single-number estimate leaves out. The weekly amount depends on what you earned, but the number of weeks depends on two things you do not control: the unemployment rate in your EI economic region when you file, and the insured hours you built up in the year before. Both are set by tables that Service Canada publishes and updates, and both are worked through below with the figures in force for claims filed from October 11 to November 7, 2026. Several temporary measures also change the usual answer for claims filed now, and they run to dates in 2027.
Quebec's EI economic regions are in the same federal table, so Quebec residents claim regular benefits under this program, while the Province of Quebec provides maternity, paternity, parental and adoption benefits through the Québec Parental Insurance Plan. Everything here is about regular benefits, the kind paid after a layoff. Maternity and standard parental benefits use the same 55% rate and $729 cap but different week counts (extended parental pays 33%, up to $437), and the EI maternity and parental guide covers them, including the family supplement for low-income families.
Hours you need depend on where you live
To qualify for regular benefits you need between 420 and 700 hours of insurable employment in your qualifying period. The qualifying period is the 52 weeks before your claim starts, or the time since your last claim began if that is shorter. In some cases it can be stretched to 104 weeks. Hours, not weeks or dollars, are the test: two people with the same income can land on opposite sides of the line if one worked longer days.
| Regional unemployment rate | Hours needed (no prior violation) |
|---|---|
| 6% and under | 700 |
| 6.1% to 7% | 665 |
| 7.1% to 8% | 630 |
| 8.1% to 9% | 595 |
| 9.1% to 10% | 560 |
| 10.1% to 11% | 525 |
| 11.1% to 12% | 490 |
| 12.1% to 13% | 455 |
| More than 13% | 420 |
A notice of violation on an earlier EI benefit period raises the bar. At a regional rate of 6% or less, the requirement climbs from 700 hours to 875 after a minor violation and to 1,400 after a subsequent one.
The regional rate is not your province's headline unemployment rate. Statistics Canada produces a rate for each of 62 EI economic regions, mostly as a seasonally adjusted three-month moving average, and Service Canada republishes the table period by period. A selection from the period of October 11 to November 7, 2026:
| EI economic region | Rate | Hours to qualify | Weeks payable (min to max) | Best weeks used |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quebec (region 11, around Quebec City) | 4.4% | 700 | 14 to 36 | 22 |
| Vancouver | 6.6% | 665 | 15 to 38 | 21 |
| Toronto | 6.9% | 665 | 15 to 38 | 21 |
| Calgary | 6.5% | 665 | 15 to 38 | 21 |
| Edmonton | 7.1% | 630 | 17 to 40 | 20 |
| Montreal | 7.1% | 630 | 17 to 40 | 20 |
| Oshawa | 8.9% | 595 | 18 to 42 | 19 |
| Restigouche-Albert (New Brunswick) | 10.2% | 525 | 21 to 45 | 17 |
| Gaspésie-Îles-de-la-Madeleine | 11.2% | 490 | 23 to 45 | 16 |
| Northern Manitoba | 28.8% | 420 | 32 to 45 | 14 |
Two cities in the same province can sit on different rows. Calgary and Edmonton are 0.6 points apart, but that straddles the 7% line, so Edmonton needs 35 fewer hours and pays at least 2 more weeks. Your region is the EI economic region you live in, and Service Canada's lookup by postal code gives it along with its current rate. The weeks depend on the regional rate at the time you file your claim, so the same person filing a month later can face a different row.
The hours count only if the employment was insurable and you lost the job through no fault of your own, which excludes quitting without just cause or being fired for misconduct. You must also have been without work and pay for at least 7 days in a row, and be ready, willing and able to work each day while you collect.
How many weeks you can collect
Weeks come from a second table that crosses insured hours with the regional rate. It starts at 420 hours and tops out at 45 weeks. A slice of it, using the regional rates above:
| Insured hours | Quebec 4.4% | Toronto 6.9% | Montreal 7.1% | Oshawa 8.9% | Restigouche-Albert 10.2% | Gaspésie 11.2% | Northern Manitoba 28.8% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 490 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 33 |
| 630 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 19 | 23 | 25 | 35 |
| 700 | 14 | 16 | 18 | 20 | 24 | 26 | 36 |
| 1,000 | 18 | 20 | 22 | 24 | 28 | 30 | 40 |
| 1,400 | 24 | 26 | 28 | 30 | 34 | 36 | 45 |
| 1,820 or more | 36 | 38 | 40 | 42 | 45 | 45 | 45 |
A zero means those hours do not qualify in that region. Read across a row and the regional rate is worth roughly two weeks of benefits per percentage point. Read down a column and each extra 35 hours, about one week of full-time work, adds half a week to a week of benefits once you are past the threshold.
Show the numbers behind this figure
| Insured hours (band starts at) | Weeks, Toronto 6.9% | Weeks, Gaspésie 11.2% |
|---|---|---|
| 420 | Does not qualify | Does not qualify |
| 455 | Does not qualify | Does not qualify |
| 490 | Does not qualify | 23 |
| 525 | Does not qualify | 23 |
| 560 | Does not qualify | 24 |
| 595 | Does not qualify | 24 |
| 630 | Does not qualify | 25 |
| 665 | 15 | 25 |
| 700 | 16 | 26 |
| 735 | 16 | 26 |
| 770 | 17 | 27 |
| 805 | 17 | 27 |
| 840 | 18 | 28 |
| 875 | 18 | 28 |
| 910 | 19 | 29 |
| 945 | 19 | 29 |
| 980 | 20 | 30 |
| 1,015 | 20 | 30 |
| 1,050 | 21 | 31 |
| 1,085 | 21 | 31 |
| 1,120 | 22 | 32 |
| 1,155 | 22 | 32 |
| 1,190 | 23 | 33 |
| 1,225 | 23 | 33 |
| 1,260 | 24 | 34 |
| 1,295 | 24 | 34 |
| 1,330 | 25 | 35 |
| 1,365 | 25 | 35 |
| 1,400 | 26 | 36 |
| 1,435 | 27 | 37 |
| 1,470 | 28 | 38 |
| 1,505 | 29 | 39 |
| 1,540 | 30 | 40 |
| 1,575 | 31 | 41 |
| 1,610 | 32 | 42 |
| 1,645 | 33 | 43 |
| 1,680 | 34 | 44 |
| 1,715 | 35 | 45 |
| 1,750 | 36 | 45 |
| 1,785 | 37 | 45 |
| 1,820 | 38 | 45 |
A full-time worker with a full year behind them clears 1,820 hours (35 hours a week for 52 weeks), so a steady full-timer in a low-unemployment city reaches 36 to 38 weeks and no more. In the official table, 45 weeks is reachable only where the regional rate is above 10%: at 1,820 hours or more the 9.1% to 10% column stops at 44. Two things can add weeks on top of the table: the seasonal-worker measure and the long-tenured-worker measure, both covered below. The number of weeks is set when the claim starts, and the government notes it does not change if you move to another region afterwards.
The weekly amount, in one formula
Service Canada adds up your insurable earnings in your best weeks, divides by the number of best weeks for your region (between 14 and 22, the right-hand column of the region table), and multiplies by 55%. The result is capped at $729, which is 55% of the 2026 maximum insurable earnings of $68,900 divided by 52. Once set, the rate stays the same for the life of the claim.
Insurable earnings include wages, tips, bonuses and commissions, and the Canada Revenue Agency decides which kinds of pay are insurable. The weekly benefit rises in a straight line with earnings until the cap and then stays flat.
Show the numbers behind this figure
| Average weekly insurable earnings | Weekly benefit (before tax) |
|---|---|
| $0 | $0.00 |
| $200 | $110.00 |
| $400 | $220.00 |
| $600 | $330.00 |
| $800 | $440.00 |
| $1,000 | $550.00 |
| $1,200 | $660.00 |
| $1,325 | $728.75 |
| $1,600 | $729.00 |
| $1,800 | $729.00 |
| $2,000 | $729.00 |
The divisor is where uneven earnings matter: fewer best weeks means a short burst of high pay is diluted less. The maternity and parental guide shows the full best-weeks table and a worked case with an overtime-heavy stretch. For regular benefits, the practical consequence is that seasonal workers in high-unemployment regions get their peak weeks counted more heavily, on top of getting more weeks.
Three workers, worked through
Each claim below uses the October 11 to November 7, 2026 regional rates and the official tables. Amounts are before income tax, which Service Canada withholds from each payment.
| Steady full-time, Toronto | Seasonal, Gaspésie | Part-time, Calgary | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work in the last 52 weeks | 52 weeks, 40 hours, $1,200 a week | 22 weeks, 45 hours; 6 weeks at $1,300, 16 at $1,050 | 52 weeks, 25 hours at $20 ($500 a week) |
| Insured hours | 2,080 | 990 | 1,300 |
| Regional rate, hours needed | 6.9%, 665 | 11.2%, 490 | 6.5%, 665 |
| Best weeks used | 21 | 16 | 21 |
| Average of best weeks | $1,200.00 | $1,143.75 | $500.00 |
| Weekly benefit (55%) | $660.00 | $629.06 | $275.00 |
| Weeks from the table | 38 | 30 | 24 |
| Total if every week is paid | $25,080 | $18,872 | $6,600 |
| Possible extra weeks | up to 20 if long-tenured | up to 5 as a seasonal worker | none likely |
The seasonal worker's best 16 weeks are the 6 at $1,300 plus the 10 highest of the rest at $1,050: $18,300 divided by 16 is $1,143.75. The worker has only 22 weeks of work but a high-unemployment region, so 990 hours earn 30 weeks of benefits. That is more than the whole working season.
The part-time worker shows how close the hours line can be. Had the same person worked 25 hours a week for only 26 weeks, the 650 hours would fall 15 short of Calgary's 665 and the claim would pay nothing. Living in Edmonton, where the rate for the same period is 7.1%, the same 650 hours would qualify for 17 weeks. For workers near the threshold, an extra shift or two in the last weeks before a layoff can be the difference between a claim and none.
The steady worker is the simplest case, but the long-tenured extension below would take this claim from 38 weeks to 58 if the worker qualifies.
Every job in the qualifying period counts
A claim is not built from the last job alone. Service Canada asks for the records of employment for all jobs held in the past year (or since the start of your last claim) and uses them to decide whether you qualify, how much you receive and for how long. Anyone who changed jobs during the year and estimates the claim from the final job alone can come out far too low.
Take a Toronto worker who had a 16-week contract at 40 hours and $1,400 a week that ended in the spring, then 20 weeks in a new job at 37.5 hours and $900 a week before being laid off in October. Both separations were through no fault of the worker.
| Last job only | Both jobs pooled | |
|---|---|---|
| Insured hours | 750 | 1,390 |
| Average over 21 weeks | $857.14 | $1,280.95 |
| Weekly benefit | $471.43 | $704.52 |
| Weeks at Toronto's 6.9% | 16 | 25 |
| Total if every week is paid | $7,543 | $17,613 |
The pooled claim draws its 21 best weeks from the 16 contract weeks at $1,400 and the 5 best weeks of the later job, which lifts the average by $424 a week. On the last job alone, the worker has only 20 weeks of earnings against Toronto's divisor of 21, and the EI Act divides the earnings in the calculation period by the table's number of weeks, so the missing week counts as zero: $18,000 divided by 21 is $857.14, not $900. The extra 640 hours move the claim 18 rows down the weeks table. Together that more than doubles the value of the claim. The ROE for each job matters, so check that every employer has issued one before relying on the decision. The qualifying-period rule cuts the other way too: hours worked before a previous claim started do not count again.
What the temporary measures change for claims filed now
The federal government has a set of temporary measures in force, and each has its own window. They change several of the usual rules, each described below.
The waiting week is waived. Normally the first week of a claim is unpaid, like an insurance deductible. For new claims that start between March 30, 2025 and October 9, 2027, it is waived. For the Toronto worker, that turns what would have been an unpaid first week into a $660 week. The government notes you may still choose to serve the waiting week if an employer's supplemental unemployment benefit plan makes that worthwhile.
Separation pay does not delay benefits. Under the normal rules, earnings paid because of a separation, such as vacation pay, pay in lieu of notice, severance, closure bonuses and sick leave credits, are allocated from the week of the separation and deducted from benefits. For claims or allocations beginning in the window from March 30, 2025 to October 9, 2027, they are not deducted. The application still asks for vacation pay, severance and pay in lieu of notice. The severance pay guide shows what that means for the value of a package and what happens after the window closes.
Long-tenured workers get up to 20 more weeks, to a maximum of 65, on claims that start between June 15, 2025 and June 12, 2027, once at least one week of regular benefits has been paid. "Long-tenured" has a precise meaning: fewer than 36 weeks of regular or fishing benefits in the 3 years before the claim, and premiums of at least 30% of the annual maximum paid in at least 7 of the 10 years before the claim year. Service Canada checks both tests against your claim and premium history. The extra weeks are added automatically, and the period in which they can be collected is extended by 20 weeks too.
A fourth measure helps people whose last year includes a job they quit. Normally, hours from a job you left without just cause, or lost through misconduct, do not count toward a claim. For claims starting between October 11, 2026 and October 9, 2027, only the most recent reason for separation is reviewed. If the last job ended through no fault of your own, all the hours in the qualifying period count.
Seasonal workers in 13 targeted regions can get up to 5 extra weeks, until October 7, 2028. The regions are mostly in Atlantic Canada and Quebec, including Gaspésie-Îles-de-la-Madeleine, plus Yukon outside Whitehorse. To be treated as a seasonal worker, you need regular or fishing benefits from at least 3 claims in the past 5 years, with at least 2 of them starting around the same time of year as the current one. If the Gaspésie worker meets that test, the claim runs 35 weeks and totals $22,017.
Working while on claim
You can take part-time or casual work without losing the claim. The rule is that you keep 50 cents of benefits for every dollar earned, up to 90% of the weekly insurable earnings used to set your benefit rate. Above that, earnings are deducted dollar for dollar. You cannot be paid for a week in which you work full time, whatever you earn, but that week is not lost: the number of weeks payable on the claim does not fall.
For the Toronto worker, whose rate of $660 rests on earnings of $1,200 a week, the 90% line is $1,080:
| Earned in the week | Deducted from EI | EI paid | Total income for the week |
|---|---|---|---|
| $0 | $0 | $660 | $660 |
| $200 | $100 | $560 | $760 |
| $400 | $200 | $460 | $860 |
| $800 | $400 | $260 | $1,060 |
| $1,080 | $540 | $120 | $1,200 |
| $1,200 | $660 | $0 | $1,200 |
In a week of part-time work, every dollar earned up to $1,080 raises the week's income by 50 cents. The exception is a full week of work, which pays no benefits however little it earns: a full week at $500 would leave the Toronto worker with less than the $660 benefit. Past $1,080, extra earnings only replace benefits until both reach your old weekly pay. Earnings must be reported for the week the work was done, not the week you were paid, and gross pay is what counts. Reporting net pay or an estimate is a common mistake that leads to overpayments.
A short contract does not end the claim either. If you take full-time work that turns out to be temporary, you tell Service Canada on your report so the claim can be adjusted or stopped, and when the contract ends you may reactivate it and continue to receive the biweekly payments. Taking a few weeks of work therefore does not throw away the weeks still owed, which matters to seasonal and project workers who string together short jobs.
The paperwork that sets the timing
- Apply right away. Service Canada warns that applying more than 4 weeks after your last day of work may cost you benefits. You do not need to wait for the record of employment (ROE) before applying: the documents can follow the application. Employers are expected to issue it within 5 calendar days of the final pay period, and you can check for it in My Service Canada Account.
- Expect about 28 days to the first payment. The service standard is a decision within 28 days of filing, met 80% of the time, and the first payment arrives about 28 days after you apply if everything is in order.
- Report every 2 weeks. Payments are issued only after each biweekly report is processed. You have 3 weeks from the date Service Canada gives you to submit each one.
- Travel limits apply. Regular benefits generally stop while you are outside Canada, with short exceptions: 7 consecutive days for purposes such as the funeral of an immediate family member or close relative, and 14 consecutive days for a bona fide job search.
Regular benefits can be combined with sickness or other special benefits in the same claim, usually up to 50 weeks in total within the benefit period.
Paying some of it back at tax time
EI is taxable income, and tax is withheld from each payment. Higher earners can also owe a separate benefit repayment when they file. If your 2026 net income from all sources is above $86,125, which is 1.25 times the $68,900 maximum insurable earnings, you repay 30% of the lesser of:
- your net income above $86,125, or
- the regular benefits paid to you in the tax year.
Two exemptions matter. You owe nothing if you received less than 1 week of regular or fishing benefits in the 10 tax years before. And special benefits, such as maternity, parental, sickness, compassionate care and family caregiver benefits, are exempt, although regular benefits paid in the same year can still be caught.
The repayment is built for cases like a layoff partway through a well-paid year. Take someone earning $130,000 who is laid off at the end of August 2026 and collects $729 a week for 17 weeks to year-end:
| Amount | |
|---|---|
| Salary earned January to August | $86,667 |
| EI regular benefits, 17 weeks at $729 | $12,393 |
| Net income (no other income or deductions) | $99,060 |
| Net income above $86,125 | $12,935 |
| Repayment: 30% of the lesser of $12,935 and $12,393 | $3,718 |
If this was the person's first regular claim in 10 years, the repayment is $0. A severance payment received in the same year would push net income higher but could not raise the repayment above 30% of the benefits themselves, $3,718 here. How an RRSP deduction fits into a year like this is covered in the RRSP and TFSA comparison.
Earnings that put you at the $729 maximum
The cap binds once your best weeks average about $1,325, the 2026 maximum insurable earnings of $68,900 divided by 52. That is roughly $33.13 an hour at 40 hours a week, or $35.33 at 37.5 hours. Anyone above that line gets the same $729, so a $90,000 earner and a $150,000 earner receive identical weekly cheques and the replacement rate falls as salary rises.
Against take-home pay, the comparison is closer than 55% suggests, but only near the cap. Biweekly take-home pay on a $72,000 Ontario salary works out to $2,117.27 in the paycheque deductions guide, or about $1,059 a week. EI at $729 is 69% of that before the tax withheld from benefits. Income tax is withheld from EI payments, so the after-tax gap depends on the rest of your year's income.
The cap also sets the most a regular claim can pay. In a region where 45 weeks are available, a capped claim totals $32,805. With the long-tenured extension at its 65-week ceiling, the most is $47,385. A Toronto claimant at the cap with 38 weeks gets $27,702. Those are the outer limits for planning; a claim stops paying when you return to full-time work.
For a household planning ahead, that maximum is the number to set against fixed costs. The emergency fund guide sizes a cash cushion from a real budget, and the EI weekly rate is the income to subtract from it. To convert your own salary to the hourly and weekly figures used here, the Ontario salary to hourly calculator does the arithmetic. The rest of the payroll and employment-standards guides, from overtime rules to holiday pay, are collected on the paycheque and employment standards hub.
None of these tables can see your record of employment or your region on the day you file; Service Canada's estimator and the claim decision are what count. This page explains how the published rules work with stated inputs and is not financial or tax advice. Before applying, run your postal code through the regional lookup and count your insured hours from your pay stubs: those two numbers decide whether you qualify and for how many weeks, and both are knowable today.
Sources
- Government of Canada, EI regular benefits: How much you could receive (55%, $68,900 and $729 for 2026, weeks payable table, best weeks, taxes; page dated 2026-10-19): https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/ei/ei-regular-benefit/benefit-amount.html (checked October 28, 2026)
- Government of Canada, EI regular benefits: Do you qualify (eligibility criteria, 420 to 700 hours, violation table, qualifying period; page dated 2026-10-15): https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/ei/ei-regular-benefit/eligibility.html (checked October 28, 2026)
- Service Canada, EI Program Characteristics for the period of October 11, 2026 to November 7, 2026 (regional rates, hours, weeks, best weeks; still the current period when re-checked): https://srv129.services.gc.ca/eiregions/eng/rates_cur.aspx (checked October 28, 2026)
- Government of Canada, Temporary Employment Insurance measures to respond to major changes in economic conditions (page dated 2026-10-06): https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/ei/temporary-measures-for-major-economic-conditions.html (checked October 28, 2026)
- Government of Canada, Additional weeks of regular benefits for workers in seasonal employment (page dated 2026-10-14): https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/corporate/portfolio/service-canada/ei-seasonal-workers.html (checked October 28, 2026)
- Government of Canada, EI regular benefits: While on EI (90% earnings rule, travel, combining benefits): https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/ei/ei-regular-benefit/while-receiving.html (checked October 28, 2026)
- Government of Canada, Employment Insurance: Working While on Claim (50 cents per dollar, full-week rule): https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/programs/ei/ei-list/working-while-claim.html (checked October 28, 2026)
- Government of Canada, EI regular benefits: Apply and After you apply (4-week warning, ROE, 28-day standard, biweekly reports): https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/ei/ei-regular-benefit/apply.html and https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/ei/ei-regular-benefit/after-applying.html (checked October 28, 2026)
- Government of Canada, EI and repayment of benefits at income tax time ($86,125, 30%, exemptions): https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/programs/ei/ei-list/reports/repayment.html (checked October 28, 2026)
- Government of Canada, EI maternity and parental benefits: How much you could receive (Quebec provides maternity, paternity, parental and adoption benefits): https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/ei/ei-maternity-parental/benefit-amount.html (checked October 28, 2026)
- Weekly amounts, week counts and totals for the worked examples are CalculatorVillage calculations on the official tables with the inputs stated.