HR glossary · Pay and payroll

EI premiums

EI premiums are Employment Insurance amounts taken from pay. In 2026 employees pay $1.63 per $100 of insurable earnings and employers pay 1.4 times that.

Also called: Employment Insurance premiums, EI deductions, EI contributions, insurable earnings

What EI premiums means

Employment Insurance (EI) premiums fund EI benefits, such as regular benefits after a layoff and maternity, parental, sickness and caregiving benefits. As an employer, you deduct the employee's premium from each pay, add your own employer premium, and send both to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).

Your share is bigger than the employee's: employers pay 1.4 times the employee premium. Premiums stop for the year once the employee's insurable earnings reach the maximum insurable earnings (MIE).

The rates are set each year by the Canada Employment Insurance Commission and are lower in Quebec, because Quebec runs its own parental insurance plan.

How it works

Insurable earnings are the earnings EI premiums apply to, generally the employee's pay from insurable employment. Multiply them by the employee rate to get the employee premium, then multiply that by 1.4 for your share.

For 2026, the employee rate is $1.63 per $100 of insurable earnings (1.63%) and the employer rate is $2.28 per $100. The MIE is $68,900, so the most an employee pays in 2026 is $1,123.07 and the most an employer pays per employee is $1,572.30. In Quebec, the 2026 rates are $1.30 for employees and $1.82 for employers.

Once an employee's premiums for the year reach the maximum, stop deducting EI for that employee until 1 January. Payroll software and the CRA's payroll deductions tables track this for you, but check the year-to-date totals if you switch systems partway through the year.

Report insurable earnings in box 24 and premiums on each T4 slip. If you offer a short-term disability plan, look at the EI Premium Reduction Program, which can lower employer premiums for qualifying plans.

Is it the same in every province?

EI is a federal program with one set of rates for every province and territory except Quebec, where employees and employers pay lower rates because of the Quebec Parental Insurance Plan. For 2027, the Commission has confirmed a rate of $1.64 per $100 for employees ($2.30 for employers) and an MIE of $70,800, for a maximum premium of $1,161.12 for employees and $1,625.57 for employers. Quebec's 2027 rates are $1.29 and $1.81.

Example: EI premiums for a part-time worker

Chloé runs a 6-person flower shop in Winnipeg. Her part-time designer, Mei, earns $40,000.00 in insurable earnings in 2026.

Mei's EI premium for the year is $40,000.00 times 1.63%, or $652.00. Chloé's employer premium is 1.4 times that, or $912.80. In January 2027 the payroll setup switches to the new rate of 1.64%.

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Questions about EI premiums

What is the EI rate for 2026?

$1.63 per $100 of insurable earnings for employees and $2.28 for employers, up to maximum insurable earnings of $68,900. Quebec's rates are $1.30 and $1.82.

What is the EI rate for 2027?

The Canada Employment Insurance Commission has confirmed $1.64 per $100 for employees and $2.30 for employers, with maximum insurable earnings of $70,800. In Quebec it is $1.29 and $1.81.

Why do employers pay more EI than employees?

The law sets the employer premium at 1.4 times the employee premium. For each $1.00 an employee pays, you pay $1.40.

Official sources

General information for Canadian employers, not legal advice. Rules differ by province and territory and change over time, so check with your provincial employment standards office (or the federal Labour Program if you are federally regulated) before you rely on it. See employment standards by province.

Checked against official sources on 4 November 2026.