Canada Employment Insurance Commission sets the 2022 Employment Insurance Premium Rate  

September 14, 2021             Gatineau, Quebec              Employment and Social Development Canada

The Canada Employment Insurance Commission (CEIC) today made available the Actuarial Report and its summary for the 2022 Employment Insurance (EI) premium rate. The rate is set at $1.58 per $100 of insurable earnings for employees and $2.21 for employers who pay 1.4 times the employee rate, which is unchanged from the 2020 and 2021 premium rate.

Each year, the CEIC is responsible for setting the annual premium rate based on the seven-year break-even rate forecasted by the EI Senior Actuary. The Senior Actuary’s report on the 2022 EI premium rate and the CEIC’s summary of that report are available online to ensure continued transparency and accountability in the rate-setting process.

The Senior Actuary forecasted the seven-year break-even premium rate to be $1.81 per $100 of insurable earnings from 2022 to 2028 that would balance out the EI Operating Account at the end of 2028.

On August 2020, as a result of the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government of Canada used its authority under the Employment Insurance Act to temporarily limit the change in the premium rate to zero in order to freeze the EI premium rate for 2021 and 2022 at the 2020 level.

The premium rate in 2022 for residents of Quebec covered under the Quebec Parental Insurance Plan will be $1.20 per $100 of insurable earnings, while their employers will pay $1.68 per $100 of insurable earnings. EI premium rates are different for residents of Quebec, because the province of Quebec administers its own parental insurance plan, which is financed by Quebec workers and their employers.

The CEIC also announced that the Maximum Insurable Earnings (MIE) for 2022 will increase to $60,300 from $56,300 in 2021. The MIE is indexed on an annual basis and represents the ceiling up to which EI premiums are collected and the maximum amount insured under the EI program. The maximum annual EI contribution for a worker will increase by $63.20 to $952.74 (up $88.48 for employers to $1,333.84 per employee). The maximum annual contribution for a worker in Quebec will increase by $59.26 to $723.60 (up $82.96 for employers to $1,013.04 per employee).

The Premium Reduction Program will provide roughly $1.159 billion in premium reductions in 2022 to registered employers and their employees, shared 7/12 and 5/12 respectively, in recognition of savings generated to the EI program by employer registered short-term wage-loss plans.