Declining Public Sector

Public sector employment
Year	Federal government	Provincial and territorial government	Local government	Total government	Government business enterprises	Total public sector
	thousands
1990	406	1,387	869	2,663	365	3,027
1991	415	1,402	889	2,706	351	3,057
1992	411	1,409	904	2,725	338	3,063
1993	405	1,397	910	2,712	326	3,037
1994	394	1,376	909	2,679	324	3,003
1995	371	1,370	907	2,649	309	2,958
1996	356	1,315	907	2,579	273	2,851
1997	338	1,302	891	2,531	258	2,789
1998	331	1,300	888	2,518	261	2,779
1999	328	1,296	885	2,509	262	2,771
2000	335	1,304	882	2,521	266	2,787
2001	351	1,314	882	2,547	266	2,814
2002	359	1,335	887	2,582	264	2,846
2003	366	1,382	893	2,642	267	2,909
2004	367	1,393	916	2,676	265	2,941
2005	371	1,413	933	2,716	263	2,980
Numbers may not add up due to rounding.

Federal public sector jobs have declined since 1990. So has employment in the Post Office and other Canadian government businesses.What has increased is contracting out of public sector work , which Stats Canada defines as self employment. Such contracting out allows the State to benefit since wages, benefits, pensions etc. are downloaded onto the individual.

An estimated 2.5 million people were self-employed in Canada last year, representing 15.5 per cent of all workers.

The increase in provincial public sector jobs is not really an increase but a return to the levels before the drastic slash and burn policies of the neo-liberal state during the debt and defiict hysteria of the ninties. The increase probably corresponds to the increased hiring of doctors and nurses which has occured over the past four years.

While business likes to say they create jobs, the reality is that the state remains a major employer of Canadians.

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