Employment Equity in the Public Service of Canada 2006–2007 and 2007–2008

APPENDIX 1

Technical Notes

The two sets of tables in this report provide statistics on designated groups in the Public Service as of March 31, 2007, and March 31, 2008. They include summary data on women, Aboriginal peoples, persons with disabilities and members of visible minority groups, as well as tables on hiring, promotions and separations of persons in these groups.

The Treasury Board is the employer for the Public Service as set out in the Financial Administration Act (FAA), schedules I and IV. Appointments are made according to merit as it is defined in the Public Service Employment Act, which is administered by the Public Service Commission of Canada. The total number of employees in the Public Service as of March 31, 2007, was 179,540 and as of March 31, 2008, was 186,754.

Report coverage

This report includes information on indeterminate employees, employees with terms of three months or more, and seasonal employees, with the exception of those seasonal employees who were on leave without pay at the end of March for each fiscal year. No information is reported on students or casual workers, except in the case of hiring if their employment status changed (to indeterminate, terms of three months or more, or seasonal) before the end of the fiscal year. Employees on leave without pay, including those on care and nurturing leave and educational leave, are not included in these tables.

Statistics in this document also exclude Governor in Council appointees, ministerial staff, federal judges and deputy ministers, who are also on the Public Service payroll. As required under the Employment Equity Act, annual reports to Parliament present information for the fiscal year beginning April 1st and ending March 31st.

Federal departments and agencies

The Employment Equity Act prescribes that this report covers the portions of the Public Service of Canada set out in schedules I and IV of the FAA. The Public Service comprises some 72 departments, agencies and commissions for which the Treasury Board is the employer (see Table 5). The statistics in this report include only employees working for those organizations.

These organizations vary in size, from large departments with more than 3,000 employees to small institutions with fewer than 100 employees, and in geography, with some organizations present in all provinces and territories while others are located only in the National Capital Region. The data from some smaller organizations are included with the data from a larger institution that has responsibility for their corporate and administrative matters.

The statistics of separate employers, covered by FAA schedule V, are not included in this report. Those separate employers having more than 100 employees (such as the Canada Revenue Agency and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency) are required by the Employment Equity Act to provide their reports to the Agency only for the purposes of tabling in Parliament at the same time as this report. To view their employment equity reports, readers should visit their websites or contact those organizations directly.

Reports on employment equity in the Canadian Forces and with respect to members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are prepared by those organizations and are also tabled in Parliament at the same time as those of separate employers.

Data on persons in the designated groups

To assure consistency of the data presented in this report, the Agency uses the Incumbent File, which contains information on all employees for whom the Treasury Board is the employer in accordance with FAA, schedules I and IV.

All tabulations, other than those for women, contain data obtained through self-identification. Self-identification data, provided voluntarily by employees, are maintained separately and confidentially in the Employment Equity Data Bank (EEDB) by the Agency. Information derived from these two sources does not always harmonize exactly with information from departmental sources, which is why a reconciliation process is carried out each year by the Agency and departments.

The completeness and accuracy of employment equity data for the Public Service depend on the willingness of employees to self-identify and on departments providing opportunities for them to do so. Employees, including those engaged as students or casual workers, are given an opportunity to provide this information when they are hired and during departmental self-identification surveys or other campaigns. Furthermore, they may complete a self-identification form (available from the employment equity coordinator in the department) at any time.

Terminology

“Hiring” refers to the number of persons added to the employee population in the past fiscal year. This includes indeterminate and seasonal employees (with the exception of those seasonal employees who are on leave without pay at the end of March), those with terms of three months or more, and students and casual workers whose employment status has changed (to indeterminate, terms of three months or more, or seasonal). “Hirings” measures the flow of employees into the Public Service and may include more than one staffing action for term employees.

“Promotions” refers to the number of appointments to positions at higher maximum pay levels, either within the same occupational group or subgroup or in another group or subgroup.

“Separations” refers to the number of employees (i.e. indeterminate, terms of three months or more, and seasonal) removed from the Public Service payroll and may include more than one action for term employees. Separations include employees who retired or resigned or those whose specified employment period (term) ended.

“Indeterminate employees” refers to people appointed to the Public Service for an unspecified duration.

“Seasonal employees” refers to people hired to work cyclically for a season or portion of each year.

“Casual workers” refers to people hired by any one department or agency for a specified period of no more than 90 days during the calendar year. Casual workers are not included in the representation figures.

“Workforce availability” refers to the distribution of people in the designated groups as a percentage of the total Canadian workforce. For Public Service purposes, workforce availability is based only on Canadian citizens in those occupations in the Canadian workforce corresponding to the occupations in the Public Service. Estimates for women, Aboriginal peoples and visible minorities are derived from statistics in the Census of Canada. Estimates for persons with disabilities are derived from data in surveys such as the Health and Activity Limitation Survey (1991) and the Participation and Activity Limitation Survey (2001). These are also collected by Statistics Canada.