How Much Are Ei (welfare) Payments In Bc, Canada?

1. Savant Says

   In Canada the standard benefits rate is 55% of your average insurable weekly earnings, up to a maximum of $45,900 a year. So take your total earnings over the last 52 weeks, and divide that by 52. Now take that average weekly amount and multiply that by 55%, which is the insured amount. That will be roughly what you will receive on a weekly basis. Please note that EI benefits *ARE* taxable, and taxes will be deducted just as they would have been normally. (Check below for a link to the tax tables.)
   Be advised that there is a 2 week waiting period during which you will not receive benefits. (It’s like an insurance deductable, it can’t be avoided, and it won’t be paid later.) Also note that you need to work a minimum number of hours to be eligible to receive Employment Insurance, which varies from location to location. You can see the British Columbia EI Economic Regions at the link below. Find your region and then click on “View Unemployment Rate & Benefit Table” to see the relevant details, which include the minimum and maximum number of weeks that are payable for the particular region in question.
   Once you go back to work, if your 2012 net income from all sources exceeds $57,375 you will be required to repay some of your benefits. Information can be found at the link below.

2. Clay H Says

   Employment Insurance and welfare are not the same things.
   Employment Insurance is a federal government program which you pay into when employed. It is available to people who loose their jobs through layoffs, downsizing, business failure, etc., those unable to work due to sickness or injuries, some maternity cases, and certain fishermen. This is actual insurance. You need to have paid into the program (it is normally automatically subtracted from your wages by your employer and remitted to Canada Revenue Agency), you need to have worked for a set number of weeks, and you need qualify (based on job loss, maternity, sickness, etc.) The amount you receive varies but the base rate is 55% of your income up to a maximum insurable rate of $45,900. This works out to about $485 a week. How long you can collect benefits depends on how long you were employed prior to losing your job and the unemployment rate in your area. It ranges from 14 to 45 weeks.
   “Welfare” is a loose term used to cover various social programs offered by individual provinces — typically dealing with income assistance, housing assistance, disability supplements, etc. For British Columbia, the most common form is called BC Employment and Assistance (BCEA). It is based on your income, assets, and other factors. In order to collect it, you also need to provide proof that you are actively looking for employment. BC may make exceptions of cases where you are seeking retraining through a EI retraining program. You’d need to contact them for details. Normally, BCEA won’t be more than a few hundred per week and you can expect that to be less if you are actively collecting EI.

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