It’s no secret the growth of the federal civil service under the Trudeau government has been unprecedented as it ramped up hiring during the pandemic, but as it turns out even the U.S. federal government hasn’t kept pace.
Between 2017 and 2022 Ottawa boosted its federal work force by 73,000, narrowly edging out U.S. federal employment growth over the same time period, despite America having a population roughly nine times larger.
Apples-to-apples comparisons of federal employment between the two countries can be tricky because of the different methodologies used. Even so, the broad picture captures the scale of the government hiring binge in Canada, where a massive strike by 150,000 federal public servants is under way.
The most recent Canadian federal head count dates to March, 2022. The Treasury Board of Canada, which compiles the annual figures, won’t release numbers for 2023 until later this year. It will undoubtedly show the expansion of the federal work force has continued.
An analysis by the Parliamentary Budget Officer earlier this month found the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) positions in the federal public service was expected to rise by more than 15,000 between the 2021/22 and 2022/23 fiscal years, based on the latest departmental plans. (FTEs are a different metric than that used by the Treasury Board.)
As for the United States, Ottawa will have trouble keeping up: The Biden White House has vowed to rapidly expand the country’s federal work force to its highest level since the Second World War.
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