Monday, March 5, 2007

Study: Employment trends in the federal public service

There are slightly fewer of them, but federal employees in general are more knowledge-based than they were in the mid-1990s, according to a new study.

In addition, women have made important inroads into the public service, the average age of public servants is rising, and they are older on average than Canadian workers as a whole.

In March 2006, just over 380,700 individuals were working for the federal government, down slightly from nearly 382,000 in March 1995.

During this 11-year period, the number of federal employees declined and then rebound.

Since reaching a low of about 326,500 in March 1999, employment in the public service has increased at an average annual rate of growth of 2.2%.

This study profiles a segment of the public service known as the "Core Public Administration", or CPA, comparing it to Canadian workers in general.

Employees in CPA more knowledge-based

The technological evolution of the working environment has had an impact on the federal government. After a small initial dip, there has been a steady increase in the number of employees in knowledge-based occupational categories and a clear decline among those not in such categories.

In 2006, knowledge-based workers, such as scientific and professional workers, and those in computer systems, represented 58% of federal workers in the CPA. During the mid-1990s, they represented only 41%.

Note to readers This release is based on a study in the current issue of Analysis in Brief, Statistics Canada's online publication that sheds light on current socioeconomic issues. It profiles the public service using what is known as the "Core Public Administration", or CPA. This consists of federal employees, excluding the RCMP, Canadian Forces and separate agencies such as the Canada Revenue Agency. Numbers for the federal government employment as a whole have been taken from the Public Sector Employment Program. For the purposes of this study, several occupational categories are referred to as knowledge-based. These categories as defined in the CPA are: scientific and professional; computer systems; program and administrative, executive; and administrative and foreign service categories. Occupations considered as less knowledge-based are: operational; technical; and administrative support. More specifically, less knowledge-based occupational categories include groups such as secretarial, stenographic and typing, engineering and scientific support, social science support, general technician, correctional services, general labour and trades, general services and clerical and regulatory group.

In 2006, an estimated 102,700 CPA employees worked in knowledge-based categories, an overall increase of about 25,400 from the total of 77,300 in 1995. Their numbers actually declined between 1995 and 1998 to just over 69,000, and then rebounded rapidly.

On the other hand, the proportion of employment in the less knowledge-based occupational categories has declined since 1995. They comprise the group of workers who left the federal government en masse between 1995 and 1999.

Employment in the less knowledge-based occupational categories dropped by a little over 35,600, from 106,000 in 1995 to just over 70,600 in 2006.

Women gaining ground in the CPA

The proportion of women within the CPA increased continuously from 1995 to 2006. In fact, since 1999, women have outnumbered men within the CPA.

Men still outnumber women in the workplace. However, the gap between the proportion of employed men and employed women has been slowly narrowing.

In 1995, nearly 46% of employed Canadians were women. By 2006, this proportion had grown to over 47%.

In contrast, in 2006, women accounted for the majority (54%) of all CPA employees, up from only 46% in 1995.

Between 1995 and 1997, more men than women left the CPA. Since 1998, this situation has reversed, and more women have been leaving the CPA.

However, during the 11-year period, there were continuously more female than male employees heading into the CPA.

CPA older than the workforce in general

The work force in the CPA is much older than the general work force in terms of three different measures: mean and median age (median age means half were above and half were below this age), and the proportion of workers aged 45 and over.

The aging work force and looming retirement of the baby boomers has been a topic of increased concern in the past few years. These workers may play a key role in transferring the institutional memory as their experience and skill in occupations may be essential to the knowledge-based economy.

The median age of all workers throughout the labour force, as well as the CPA, has been rising. However, the median ages for employed men and women are noticeably lower than those for men and women in the CPA.

Among women in the CPA, the median age rose from 40 in 1995 to 44 in 2006; among their male counterparts, it went from 44 to 46.

In the work force as a whole, the median age among employed women rose from 37 in 1995 to 40 in 2006; among men, it went from 38 to 40.

In addition, within the CPA, individuals aged 45 and over accounted for just over half (52%) the total in 2006, compared with just under 39% in the work force as a whole.

Definitions, data sources and methods.

For a more detailed description of how public sector employment is defined and reconciled with other information sources, please refer to the document entitled Reconciliation of Public Sector Employment Estimates from Multiple Information Sources at the following link: 1713.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 1713.

The analytical article "Employment trends in the federal public service" (11-621-MWE2007053, free) is now available online in the Analysis in Brief series from the Publications module of our website.

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Katarzyna Naczk (613-951-5605), Public Institutions Division.

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