EI premiums for 2027 are set — here's what they cost you, and what they'd pay

The Canada Employment Insurance Commission set the 2027 EI premium rate on September 14. Three numbers change on January 1, and they pull in opposite directions: you pay a little more, and if you ever need EI, it pays a little more back.

The 2027 numbers

• Premium rate: $1.64 per $100 of insurable earnings, up one cent from $1.63 in 2026. Quebec residents pay $1.29 because the province runs its own parental-insurance plan.
• Maximum insurable earnings (MIE): $70,800, up from $68,900 — a 2.8% rise, indexed to average weekly earnings.
• Maximum annual premium: $1,161.12 for a worker, up $38.05. Employers pay 1.4× that, so their ceiling rises to $1,625.57.
• Maximum weekly benefit: $749, up from $729.

The rate can only move five cents a year by law, so a one-cent nudge is about as quiet as an EI change gets. Almost all of the dollar impact comes from the higher ceiling, not the higher rate.

The rate went up one cent. The ceiling went up $1,900. If you earn under $68,900, only the first one touches you — and it's worth a few dollars a year.

What it costs at your salary

EI is a flat percentage of every dollar you earn up to the MIE, then it stops. So the increase depends on which side of the ceiling you sit on:

• $50,000: premiums go from $815 to $820. About $5 a year.
• $60,000: $978 to $984. About $6 a year.
• $68,900: $1,123 to $1,130. About $7 a year.
• $70,800 or more: $1,123 to $1,161. About $38 a year, or roughly $1.50 per biweekly cheque.

If you earn above the ceiling, you'll also hit it a little later in 2027 than you did this year — the fall paycheque bump, when EI stops coming off your pay, arrives roughly a week later at the same salary. To see what the full stack of 2026 deductions leaves you with, run the take-home pay calculator.

For context, an income of $70,800 — the new ceiling — sits at roughly the 69th percentile of individual Ontario tax filers, per the income percentile tool. So about a third of Ontario filers will pay the maximum in 2027; the other two-thirds are looking at a change measured in single-digit dollars.

What it would pay you

The benefit side is the same ceiling seen from the other direction. EI regular benefits are 55% of your average weekly insurable earnings, and insurable earnings stop at the MIE. That's where the $749 a week maximum comes from (55% of $70,800 ÷ 52).

• $52,000 salary: about $550 a week — unchanged, because you're under the ceiling in both years.
• $70,800 or more: $749 a week in 2027 versus $729 in 2026. Over a full 45-week claim, that's about $900 more.

For a higher earner, the trade is $38 a year in premiums for a $20-a-week higher benefit if a claim ever happens — and the claim only needs to last two weeks to recover the difference. The flat ceiling also still means a $120,000 earner collects exactly what a $70,800 earner does: $749 a week, before tax.

Two groups with their own numbers

• Self-employed and opted in to EI special benefits (maternity, parental, sickness, caregiving): you pay the worker rate only, and the minimum self-employed earnings to qualify in 2027 rises to $9,515.
• Quebec residents: maximum worker premium is $913.32 (+$17.62), and employers there pay $1.81 per $100. QPIP premiums come off separately.

The takeaway

EI's 2027 changes are small on the paycheque and modestly better on the claim. The number worth remembering isn't $1.64 — it's $70,800, the line where premiums stop and where the maximum benefit is set. If you're above it, expect about $38 more in deductions and $20 more per week of coverage. If you're below it, this year's change is a rounding error, and the more useful number is what 55% of your own weekly pay actually comes to.

Take-home and percentile figures delivered by Metrestick. Underlying data: CRA 2026 federal and provincial income-tax parameters (Open Government Licence – Canada) and Statistics Canada tax-filer income statistics, Table 11-10-0008-01 (Statistics Canada Open Licence). 2027 EI parameters: Canada Employment Insurance Commission, Summary of the 2027 Actuarial Report on the Employment Insurance Premium Rate, September 14, 2026.