Employment Insurance benefit payments in Canada jumped 32.5% in November 2025 compared to the same month a year earlier, reaching $2.306 billion as unemployment pressures mounted across the country.
The November increase brought total EI benefit spending from April through November 2025 to $17.857 billion, up 17.7% from the previous fiscal year.
Canada’s unemployment rate peaked at 7.1% in September before declining to 6.5% in November. The number of Canadians receiving regular EI benefits reached 566,000 in November, with year-over-year increases concentrated in Alberta (23.7%), British Columbia (21.5%), Quebec (20.4%), and Ontario (16.9%).
Budget 2025 drove much of the spending increase, allocating $3.7 billion over three years for enhanced income support targeting workers affected by foreign tariffs and economic uncertainty. The budget also established temporary flexibilities allowing EI benefits for employees whose hours are reduced due to business downturns, and waived the standard waiting period for new claims. Long-tenured workers became eligible for up to 20 extra weeks of benefits.
The program’s cumulative deficit continues to grow. Government actuaries projected the EI Operating Account deficit would reach $17.159 billion by the end of 2025 and climb to $18.991 billion by December 2026. Total expenditures are projected to hit $32 billion in 2025, up from $28 billion in 2024.
The program collects revenues entirely through mandatory payroll deductions, operating without direct government funding since 1990. Workers pay premiums of 1.64% on insurable earnings up to $65,700 in 2025, while employers pay 1.4 times that rate.
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Monthly premium revenues totaled $1.892 billion in October 2025, while benefit expenditures that month reached $1.816 billion. Despite monthly revenues often exceeding payments, the cumulative deficit grows because the program operates on a seven-year forecast model designed to balance revenues and expenditures over that period — and recent policy changes increased costs beyond initial actuarial projections.
The Canada Employment Insurance Commission set the 2026 premium rate at 1.63%, down from 2025’s rate of 1.64%, based on calculations completed before Budget 2025’s enhanced measures took effect.
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