Employment insurance premiums are dropping again, John Manley, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, and Jane Stewart, Minister of Human Resources Development, announced today.

Beginning Jan. 1, rates will be lowered by 10¢ for every $100 earned, the federal Finance Department said.
Premiums will fall to $2.10 per every $100 of a worker’s earnings. For people with the highest insurable earnings — anything over $39,000 a year — the cut amounts to 75¢ a week, or about $40 a year.

The EI rate that employers must pay is also falling. It’s calculated by multiplying the employee rate by 1.4, so the employer rate will fall 14¢ for each $100 in insurable earnings – a drop to $2.94 from $3.08.

“This reduction will mean savings of $890 million for workers and businesses next year,” said Minister Manley.

This is the ninth consecutive reduction in EI premiums since 1994, when they were $3.07 per $100 of earnings. In total, employers and employees will save $8.6 billion in 2003 compared to the 1994 rate.