Chapter 3 What the Numbers Show: 2006–2007

This chapter provides highlights and describes employment equity performance by designated group in the Public Service for the 2006–2007 fiscal year.

Women

Gender/Representation

• The representation of women in the Public Service is up slightly from last year to 53.9 percent.

Occupational Category

• Women comprised 40.4 percent of employees in the Executive category, up from 38.8 percent last year and 32.0 percent five years ago. This is still below the workforce availability estimate of 42.8 percent for that category. The representation of women in the Scientific and Professional category (44.2 percent) increased slightly from the previous year.

Age

The distribution of women employees by age is as follows:

• 21 percent of women in the Public Service are under 35 years of age
• 47 percent of women in the Public Service are between the ages of 35 and 49
• 32 percent are 50 and older

Distribution among Departments and Agencies

• Of the large departments and agencies with more than 1,000 employees, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (Civilian Staff) continues to employ the highest proportion of women (80.0 percent), followed closely by Veterans Affairs Canada (70.9 percent). Of the same large departments, Fisheries and Oceans Canada and National Defence have the lowest representation of women at 31.1 percent and 39.1 percent.

Tenure

• The percentage of indeterminate employees who are women has remained consistent with the previous year at 53.7 percent.
• Women still comprise approximately 6 of 10 term employees.

Geography

• Of all women who work in the Public Service, 44 percent work in the National Capital Region (a similar proportion to that for all employees).
• Close to 4 in 10 of all employees working outside of Canada are women; this is consistent with previous years.

Salary

The percentage of women at or below the salary level identified are as follows:

• 51 percent earn less than $55,000 annually compared with only 41 percent of all employees
• 76 percent earn less than $70,000 annually compared with only 69 percent of all employees
• 95 percent earn less than $95,000 annually compared to 92 percent of all employees

Hiring

• Women represented 56 percent of all new hires into the Public Service.
• Although women continue to constitute the majority of all persons hired into the Scientific and Professional category at 51.4 percent, this represents approximately a 5 percent drop from the previous year.
• Approximately 4 in 10 women continue to enter the Public Service through the Administrative Support category, which is consistent with previous years.

Promotions

• Women accounted for 61.2 percent of all promotions in the Public Service, which is up 2.4 percent from last year and brings the promotion rate for women to approximately the same level as existed five years ago.

Separations

• Women accounted for 53.4 percent of all separations from the Public Service. This represents a 3.8 percent increase from last year.

Aboriginal Peoples

Representation

• The representation of Aboriginal peoples, at 4.2 percent, is unchanged over the past three years.

Gender

• Female Aboriginal employees make up 61  percent of Aboriginal employees.

Occupational Category

• Aboriginal peoples represent 3.4 percent of all employees in the Executive category; this is unchanged from the previous year and compares to a workforce availability estimate of 3.5 percent for that category.
• Almost 50 percent of Aboriginal employees work in the Administrative and Foreign Service category. This represents an increase of 8.4 percent from five years ago and is similar to the percentage of the total employee population that works in this category (48 percent).

Age

The distribution of Aboriginal employees by age is as follows:

• 21 percent of Aboriginal employees are under 35 years of age
• 51 percent of Aboriginal employees in the Public Service are between the ages of 35 and 49
• 28 percent are 50 years and older

Distribution among Departments and Agencies

• Almost 50 percent of Aboriginal employees work in four departments whose total employee population represents only 27 percent of the Public Service employee population: 16 percent of Aboriginal employees work at Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, 14 percent at Correctional Service Canada, 11 percent at Human Resources and Social Development Canada and 8 percent work at Health Canada.
• Seven of the largest departments with employee populations over 1,000 have not matched the percentage of Aboriginal employees with the 2001 workforce availability estimate of 2.5 percent.

Tenure

• Of all newly recruited Aboriginal employees, 46 percent were hired as indeterminate employees. This is similar to the percentage of indeterminate employees (47 percent) for all hires into the Public Service.
• Of all Aboriginal employees, 93 percent have indeterminate status.

Geography

• Just over 32 percent of Aboriginal employees work in the National Capital Region (NCR), while 41.8 percent work west of the NCR. The proportion of Aboriginal peoples working west of the NCR has fallen steadily from 44.1 percent five years ago.

Salary

The percentage of all Aboriginal employees at or below the salary level identified are as follows:

• 47 percent earn less than $55,000 annually compared with only 41 percent of all employees
• 77 percent earn less than $70,000 compared with only 69 percent of all employees
• 96 percent earn less than $95,000 annually compared to 92 percent of all employees

Hiring

• Aboriginal peoples represented 3.3 percent of all new hires; this continues the trend of Aboriginal peoples’ falling share for all new hires from three years ago, when it was at 4.3 percent.
• Aboriginal peoples continue to enter the Public Service mainly through the Administrative and Foreign Service and the Administrative Support categories at 31.3 percent and 32.4 percent respectively.

Promotions

• Aboriginal peoples received 4.3 percent of all promotions, down slightly from last year’s rate of 4.4 percent.
• Of all promotions for Aboriginal peoples, 62 percent were in the Administrative and Foreign Service category, which is consistent with the previous year.

Separations

• Aboriginal peoples accounted for 3.9  percent of all separations; this is down only slightly from five years ago.

Persons with Disabilities

Representation

• At 5.7 percent of the Public Service, persons with disabilities continue to be represented above their 2001 workforce availability estimate of 3.6 percent but are the first designated group to show a decline over the past five years.

Gender

• Women made up 51 percent of employees with disabilities.

Occupational Category

• Employees with disabilities represented 5.8 percent (or 270 of 4,651) of all employees in the Executive category; this is up from 5.5 percent from the previous year and is significantly higher than the workforce availability estimate of 2.6 percent for this category.
• The Administrative Support category has the highest proportion of employees with disabilities (7.8 percent) of all the occupational categories. Of all employees with disabilities, 20 percent work in Administrative Support positions. In comparison, 15 percent of all employees work in the Administrative Support category.

Age

The distribution of employees with disabilities by age is as follows:

• only 9 percent of employees with disabilities are under 35 years of age compared with 20 percent of all employees who are 35 years and younger
• 42 percent of employees with disabilities working in the Public Service are between the ages of 35 and 49
• 49 percent are 50 years and older

Distribution among Departments and Agencies

• Of the 24 departments with more than 1,000 employees, representing 93 percent of the Public Service employee population, only one department did not employ the percentage of employees with disabilities at or above the 2001 Participation and Activity Limitations (PALS) workforce availability estimate of 3.6 percent for persons with disabilities.

Tenure

• Of all employees with disabilities, 95.5  percent have indeterminate employment status. This is higher than the rate of 92  percent for all employees.

Geography

• Of employees with disabilities, 42 percent work in the National Capital Region, the same percentage as for all employees.

Salary

The percentage of employees with disabilities at or below the salary level identified are as follows:

• 47 percent earn under $55,000 annually compared with only 41 percent of all employees
• 71 percent earn under $70,000 annually compared to 69 percent of all employees
• 93 percent earn under $95,000 annually compared to 92 percent of all employees

Hiring

• Of persons with disabilities recruited into the Public Service in 2006–2007, 43 percent were hired into indeterminate positions. This continues the upward trend over the last five years and represents an increase of 15.8 percent from five years ago.
• The Administrative Support and Administrative and Foreign Service categories continue to be the main points of entry for persons with disabilities at 36 percent and 35 percent respectively.
• Persons with disabilities represent 2.8  percent of all new hires into the Public Service. This share of new hires has been below the workforce availability estimate as determined by the 2001 PALS for the last five years.

Promotions

• Persons with disabilities received 5.0  percent of all promotions in the Public Service. This level of promotion has been consistent over the last five years.

Separations

• Employees with disabilities represented 7 percent of the separations from the Public Service. A 7 percent separation rate is more than double the hiring rate of persons with disabilities.

Members of Visible Minority Groups

Representation

• Members of visible minority groups made up 8.8 percent of the Public Service workforce, up from 8.6 percent in the previous year, but still well below the workforce availability estimate of 10.4 percent.
• Representation of visible minorities in the Executive category is now at 6.2 percent up from 5.5 percent a year ago. The number of visible minority executives has almost trebled, from 103 in 2000 to 290 in 2006–2007.

Gender

• Women made up 55 percent of the visible minority employee population.

Occupational Category

• Of all visible minority employees, 21  percent work in the Scientific and Professional category, an occupational category that represents only 15 percent of the Public Service population.

Age

The distribution by age of employees belonging to visible minority groups is as follows:

• 29 percent of visible minority employees are under 35 years of age
• 45 percent of visible minority employees in the Public Service are between the ages of 35 and 49
• 27 percent are 50 years of age and older

Distribution among Departments and Agencies

• Of the 24 departments with more than 1,000 employees, representing 93 percent of the Public Service population, 12 departments have not matched employment of visible minorities with the workforce availability estimate of 10.4 percent as derived from the 2001 Census.
• Within these same 24 departments, Citizenship and Immigration Canada and Passport Canada continue to have the highest representation of visible minority employees at 16.5 percent and 15.5 percent respectively.

Tenure

• The proportion of visible minorities who are indeterminate employees increased to 91.2 percent, up from 89.7 percent a year ago. An increase has been experienced in each of the last five years.

Geography

• Out of all visible minority employees in the Public Service, 44.8 percent work in the National Capital Region, which is an increase of 1.1 percent from last year.
• The second highest proportion of visible minorities work in British Columbia at 14.8 percent.

Salary

The percentage of visible minority employees at or below the salary level identified are as follows:

• 41 percent earn less than $55,000 annually, identical to the percentage for all employees.
• 68 percent earn under $70,000 annually compared to 69 percent of all employees
• 93 percent earn under $95,000 annually compared to 92 percent of all employees

Hiring

• Of all new hires into the Public Service, 8.7 percent identified themselves as visible minorities; this represents a 1.2 percent drop from the previous year and the lowest level in the last five years.
• Visible minorities continue to enter the Public Service primarily through the Administrative and Foreign Service and Administrative Support categories at 34.7 percent and 32.2 percent respectively. These two occupational categories continue to be the two main points of entry for all new public servants.

Promotions

• Of all promotions in the Public Service, 10.5 percent were to members of visible minority groups. Of these promotions to visible minorities, 14.9 percent were in the Scientific and Professional category.

Separations

• Visible minorities accounted for 7.1  percent of all separations from the Public Service; this remains virtually unchanged from the previous year.

Comparisons and Highlights among Designated Groups

Representation

• Three of the four designated groups remain well represented when compared with workforce availability estimates. Women account for 53.9 percent of Public Service employees, Aboriginal peoples for 4.2 percent and persons with disabilities for 5.7 percent, compared to workforce availability estimates of 52.2 percent, 2.5 percent and 3.6 percent respectively.
• Although visible minority representation, at 8.8 percent, has increased by 2.6 percent from five years ago, there still remains a gap when compared with their workforce availability estimate of 10.4 percent.

Gender

• In 2006–2007, the number of women in the Public Service increased by 1,803 employees to comprise 53.9 percent of the total Public Service population.
• The proportion of women in the designated groups has remained consistent with the levels of five years ago. Women now account for 61.2 percent of Aboriginal peoples, 51.3 percent of persons with disabilities and 54.8 percent of visible minorities.
• For women with a disability, term employment continues to decrease. They comprised 2.6  percent of all women who are term employees in 2006–2007, down from 3.2 percent of five years ago. The same can be said for Aboriginal women who now comprise 4.2  percent, down from 4.9 percent five years ago. However, term employment of visible minority women has increased. They comprised 10.9 percent of all women who are term employees, up from 8.8 percent five years ago.

Occupational Category

• All of the designated groups showed an increased share of the Executive category in 2006–2007 from the previous year, except for Aboriginal peoples: women’s share increased from 38.8 percent to 40.4 percent; the share for Aboriginal peoples remained the same at 3.4 percent; persons with disabilities increased their share from 5.5 percent to 5.8 percent; and visible minorities increased their share from 5.5 percent to 6.2 percent.
• The Administrative and Foreign Service category has the largest base of employees and received 6,003 new employees over the past year. Persons with disabilities showed a small decline in their proportion of this category, while all other designated groups showed an increase in their share. Visible minorities showed the greatest increase, going from 8.4 percent to 9.0 percent.
• The Scientific and Professional category continues to employ the highest concentration of employees belonging to a visible minority group. Members of visible minority groups account for 12.7 percent of all employees in this category. This proportion has been increasing over the last five years.

Age

• The average age of employees in the Public Service is 44.8 years. Among the designated groups overall, visible minorities are the youngest (average 42.8 years) and persons with disabilities are the oldest (average 48.6 years).

Distribution among Departments and Agencies

• Women made up 70.8 percent of the employee population of Human Resources and Social Development Canada, the second largest department in the Public Service.
• Of all Aboriginal peoples employed in the Public Service, 41.7 percent are employed by three departments: Human Resources and Social Development Canada with 875; Correctional Service Canada with 1,049; and Indian and Northern Affairs Canada with 1,252. Aboriginal peoples constitute just under a third of all employees at Indian and Northern Affairs Canada; this is consistent with previous years.
• Approximately 30 percent of all persons with disabilities in the Public Service are employed by National Defence (1,272 employees) and Human Resources and Social Development Canada (1,753 employees).
• Just over 42 percent of all visible minorities in the Public Service work in five departments: National Defence (1,214); Human Resources and Social Development Canada (1,945); Public Works and Government Services Canada (998); Canada Border Services Agency (1,326); and Health Canada (1,161).
• Of the 24 departments with more than 1,000 employees, only 10 departments employed a higher percentage of visible minorities than the 10.4 percent workforce availability estimate:
  • Citizenship and Immigration Canada (16.5  percent)
  • Passport Canada (15.5 percent)
  • Health Canada (13.8 percent)
  • Public Health Agency of Canada (12.0  percent)
  • Statistics Canada (11.7 percent)
  • Canada Border Services Agency (11.3 percent)
  • Canadian International Development Agency (11.2 percent)
  • Environment Canada (11.1 percent)
  • Industry Canada (10.9 percent)
  • Department of Justice Canada (10.7 percent)

Tenure

• Indeterminate employees make up 92.3  percent of the Public Service workforce. The proportion of indeterminate employees among the designated groups in 2006–2007 is as follows, and remains fairly consistent with the overall picture:
  • 93.0 percent of Aboriginal peoples (up from 92.0 percent the previous year)
  • 95.5 percent of persons with a disability (up from 95.4 percent the previous year)
  • 91.2 percent of visible minorities (up from 89.7 percent the previous year)
  • 91.9 percent of women (up from 91.4 percent the previous year)

Geography

• Of the total Public Service workforce, 42 percent is located in the National Capital Region (NCR). This proportion is similar for women (44.2 percent), persons with disabilities (41.8 percent) and visible minorities (44.8 percent). In contrast, less than one third of Aboriginal peoples work in the NCR.
• British Columbia continues to have the highest representation of visible minorities, increasing its share to 14.2 percent, followed by Ontario (excluding the NCR) with 12.8 percent.
• Prince Edward Island had the highest representation of women and persons with disabilities at 63.4 and 8.3 percent respectively; this is consistent with previous years.

Salary

• Just over 70.5 percent of all employees in the Public Service earn $50,000 or more annually; this represents a significant increase from five years ago. The proportions have increased for designated groups in 2006–2007 and are as follows:
  • women at 62.4 percent, compared with 49.8 percent in 2001–2002
  • Aboriginal peoples at 66.0 percent, compared with 51.3 percent in 2001–2002
  • persons with disabilities at 65.1 percent, compared with 55.4 percent in 2001–2002
  • members of visible minority groups at 69.9 percent, compared with 57.2 percent in 2001–2002

Hiring

• The Public Service hired 2,532 more employees in 2006–2007 than in the previous year.
• The hiring of visible minorities showed no improvement from the previous year. Persons in a visible minority group made up 8.7 percent of all new hires; this is a 1.2 percentage decrease from last year. The same can be said for women, who received a 55.7 percent share of new hires; this is a 1.2 percent decrease from last year as well.
• The NCR, British Columbia and Manitoba received the majority of new hires of Aboriginal peoples: the NCR at 29.6 percent; British Columbia at 12.5 percent; and Manitoba at 11.9 percent.
• For the fifth year in a row, visible minorities’ share of new hires into the Executive category has increased. It now stands at 9.1  percent.
• Women’s share in the Scientific and Professional category experienced a decrease of almost 5 percent from the previous year to 51.4 percent. This represents the first drop in women’s share of new hires in this category since 2000–2001.
• Each of the designated groups showed an increase in their share of new indeterminate employee hires from 2005–2006: women from 35.3 percent to 44.8 percent; Aboriginal peoples from 38.8 percent to 46.1 percent; persons with disabilities from 40.2 percent to 42.8 percent; and visible minorities from 36.2 percent to 46.3 percent.
• For the first time, close to half of all new hires of visible minorities into the Public Service were indeterminate at 46.3 percent. This represents an increase of 12.1 percent from the previous year.

Promotions

• More than half of all promotions occurred in the NCR; this was also true for promotions of women, persons with disabilities and visible minorities. The share for Aboriginal peoples increased to 44.1 percent, up from 39.2 percent last year.
• Across the entire Public Service, indeterminate employees received 95.1 percent of all promotions. Indeterminate employees who are members of designated groups received similar rates of promotion: women at 95.5 percent; Aboriginal peoples at 94.6 percent; persons with disabilities at 96.7 percent; and visible minorities at 95.4 percent.
• While two of the four designated groups experienced an increase in the share of promotions in the Scientific and Professional category from last year, visible minorities and persons with disabilities each experienced a decrease of 0.2 percent.
• Women continued to receive the majority of promotions in the Administrative and Foreign Service category, in which they also constitute the majority of employees. They received 69.1 percent of promotions, an increase of 5.2 percent from the previous year.

Separations

• In the Scientific and Professional category, members of visible minority groups accounted for 12.7 percent of employees and 10.5  percent of separations.
• Women accounted for 53.4 percent of all separations from the Public Service.
• Of all separations from the Public Service, 66.3 percent were indeterminate employees. Of all separations involving designated groups, 65.3 percent were indeterminate employees.

Conclusion

While it is appropriate to acknowledge that there have been some significant successes in the recruitment and development of members of the four designated groups, a number of persistent challenges still remain.

Salary levels for employees who are visible minorities compare favourably with the levels for all employees in the Public Service. The representation of visible minorities in the Executive category meets the workforce availability estimate for that category for the first time. However, the significant gap in overall representation of visible minorities compared to the workforce availability estimate must be addressed.

Employees with disabilities are represented in the Executive category at double the level of their workforce availability for that category and, overall, are well represented in almost every department across the Public Service. However, the recruitment of persons with disabilities has not met workforce availability estimates for a number of years. As a result, the representation of employees with disabilities decreased for the first time in 2006–2007, although it did climb again in 2007–2008. In addition, 51 percent of employees with disabilities are 50 years of age or more. Efforts to maintain the representation rate of employees with disabilities in the face of an accelerated separation rate can only be accomplished through a concerted effort in recruitment.

Aboriginal peoples are being significantly recruited into a small number of the larger departments and, as a result, the representation of Aboriginal peoples exceeds the overall workforce availability estimate. However, there are six departments with more than 1,000 employees that have not met the 2001 workforce availability estimate of 2.5 percent.

As of March 31, 2007, women represented 53.9 percent of Public Service employees; as of March 31, 2008 that figure had climbed to 54.4 percent. This compares with 52.5 percent in March 2002, when representation of women slightly exceeded the 2001 workforce availability estimate of 52.2 percent. Women still have not achieved full representation in the Executive category, but that gap appears to be closing. In addition, women are significantly overrepresented in positions earning under $55,000 annually. This may be attributed to the high representation of women working in the Administrative Support category (81 percent).

It is recognized that success in employment equity is about more than just numbers. However, without understanding the composition of our workforce, it would be difficult to pave our way forward. The Agency continues to look at ways to improve the process for voluntary self-identification adopted in the Employment Equity Act to enable us to develop the right policies and initiatives to achieve our goals. Employment equity is an essential first step toward a diverse, representative and inclusive Public Service.