EI premiums to rise by $535 per worker
Canada’s budget watchdog says employment insurance premiums may have to go up, and by a lot.
The parliamentary budget office estimates that EI premiums paid by workers and employers would have to rise by the maximum allowable limit of 15 cents per $100 of insurable earnings if the fund is return to near balance in five years.
That would hike annual contributions per worker by $535 – with about $223 more being paid by the employee and $312 by the employer.
The maximum EI contribution paid by employees now is just over $730 per year.
The combination of the increased premiums, more workers and higher wages means that Ottawa’s EI revenues would grow from $16.2 billion last year to $27.1 billion by 2014.
But the budget office estimates that even then the fund would still carry a $700-million deficit by 2014 after hitting a peak shortfall of $10.7 billion in 2011.
Currently, the government has frozen contribution premiums until 2011 as part of the two-year stimulus package dealing with the recession.
Opposition critics have described the premium increase as a new tax on workers, although the government views the EI as a self-financing insurance fund supported by workers and employers.
