Canada. Public sector employment up

Public sector employment increased 0.5%, on a seasonally adjusted basis, between the third and fourth quarters of 2009. In the fourth quarter of 2009, the public sector in Canada had an average of nearly 3.6 million employees.

In addition to the overall public sector, seasonally adjusted data are available for the federal general government and the provincial and territorial general government. According to seasonally adjusted data, these two components accounted for 22% of total employment in the public sector in the fourth quarter of 2009.

After a pause in the third quarter, employment in the provincial and territorial general government continued the decline that began in the fourth quarter of 2008. It fell 0.8% between the third and fourth quarters of 2009, leading to a loss of 2.0% since the third quarter of 2008. This decline between 2008 and 2009 was mainly due to a retrenchment of close to 9,000 jobs in the general government of Ontario.

Employment in the federal general government grew by 0.5% between the third and fourth quarters of 2009. Federal employment increased in some provinces, notably Ontario (+1,100 jobs), while other provinces showed losses.

Seasonally adjusted employment statistics are not available for other public sector components such as local general government, educational institutions, health and social service institutions and government business enterprises, or for wages and salaries. Analysis for these components and for wages and salaries is presented on a year-over-year basis using unadjusted data.

Non-seasonally adjusted data show that public sector employment grew by 1.7% between the fourth quarter of 2008 and the fourth quarter of 2009. Health and social service institutions (+3.7%), federal general government (+3.5%) and local general government (+3.2%) posted the biggest gains. The only sub-sectors to register declines were provincial and territorial general government (-1.8%), school boards (-0.4%) and government business enterprises (-0.4%).

Total wages and salaries paid in the public sector rose 2.6% during the fourth quarter of 2009 compared with the fourth quarter of 2008. All sub-sectors showed increases, except the federal general government (-1.7%) and school boards (-0.5%).

Although employment in the federal general government grew by 3.5%, total wages and salaries declined as there were six pay periods in the fourth quarter of 2009 compared with seven pay periods in the fourth quarter of 2008.

Note: A seasonally adjusted series is one from which seasonal movements have been eliminated. The seasonally adjusted data series begins in January 2001, due to a methodology modification in one of the public sector employment data sources that caused a break in the unadjusted series that year.

Wages and salaries data are not available on a seasonally adjusted basis.

The public sector includes all economic entities controlled by government, and comprises four major components: the three levels of government (federal, provincial and territorial, and local), each having a general government component comprising ministries, departments, agencies and non-autonomous funds, autonomous funds and organizations, and non-autonomous pension plans. Provincial and territorial government also includes universities and colleges, and health and social service institutions, while local government also includes school boards.

The fourth component consists of government business enterprises, which are institutional units controlled by government, but which operate as commercial corporations in the marketplace.

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