The total cost of personnel spending for the public service continued to increase in the first months of this fiscal year, even as staffing levels were reduced, according to Canada’s parliamentary budget officer. Read MoreThe government spent $31.2 billion on personnel in the first five months of this fiscal while the average number of FTEs shrank to 346,000.
The government spent $31.2 billion on personnel in the first five months of this fiscal while the average number of FTEs shrank to 346,000.
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The total cost of personnel spending for the public service continued to increase in the first months of this fiscal year, even as staffing levels were reduced, according to Canada’s parliamentary budget officer.
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The federal government spent $31.2 billion on salaries, bonuses and other personnel costs in the first five months of 2025-26, which was an increase of 7.8 per cent, said a new report released by the PBO on Nov. 19. And since September 2025 the average number of full-time equivalents (FTE) the public service had was 346,000, which was down from 358,000 in the previous fiscal year.
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“This divergence suggests that the increases in personnel spending have been driven by higher expenses per FTE rather than staffing levels,” the report added.
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A full-time equivalent or FTE is a unit of measure that defines the amount of working hours of a full-time employee. So two or three part-time workers may be considered as one FTE.
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The report also found that in 2024-25, total personnel spending reached $76.3 billion, which was up 6.1 per cent compared with 2023-24 levels. This was an increase from a projection of $71.1 billion the PBO released in August.
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“The increases are consistent with PBO’s recent observation that personnel spending has grown significantly in recent years,” the report said.
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Despite the continued growth in personnel spending this year, Marianne Laurin, one of the report’s authors said that “things could change” but “there is still the conclusion that costs are up from last year.”
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Govindadeva Bernier, director of budgetary analysis at the PBO, also cautioned that the trajectory of personnel may change.
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“We don’t know yet what will happen at the end of the fiscal year,” Bernier said.
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Personnel costs are expected to go down once the Liberal government’s spending review starts in earnest.
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On Nov. 4, the government announced through its budget that there will be a reduction of 16,000 FTEs as of September 2025. Overall, the government plans to shed around 30,000 jobs from the public service by 2028-29.
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The Liberals have promised to use attrition “to the greatest extent possible” and announced early retirement incentives to entice public servants to take voluntary departures.
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However, some layoffs are expected as part of what’s called the workforce adjustment process that seeks to find alternatives to employment inside the public service where possible.
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Public sector unions are also in contract negotiations for new collective agreements, which could eventually mean increased salaries for public servants and higher expenses per FTE.
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