Personnel Expenditure Analysis Tool Update: 2024-25 Personnel Expenditures

In 2024-25, total personnel spending reached $76.3 billion, up from $71.9 billion in 2023-24, representing an increase of 6 per cent.[^1] Total personnel spending in 2024-25 included $71.4 billion in ministerial net expenditures, $2.4 billion in personnel expenditures for consolidated Crown corporations, and $2.5 billion for accrual and other adjustments.[^2] The Personnel Expenditure Analysis Tool focuses on ministerial expenditures on a cash basis, as these best reflect departmental trends driving personnel spending.[^3]

Departmental personnel spending covers salaries and wages, pension compensation, overtime, bilingual bonuses and other employee-related benefits.[^4] Excluding one-time payments related to new collective agreements as well as actuarial deficiencies in the Public Service Superannuation Account,[^5] departmental personnel spending reached $64.2 billion in 2024-25, an increase of 6.7 per cent compared to 2023-24. While this growth is lower than the 10 per cent increase recorded in the previous year, it remains above the pre-pandemic average annual growth rate of 3.1 per cent.

Public Accounts of Canada

Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer

Public Accounts of Canada

Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer

Data are in fiscal years (2024 corresponds to fiscal year 2024-25). Other payments include spending related to Employment Insurance, employer contributions to hospital and medical plans and disability insurance, and other miscellaneous payments. One-time payments include spending related to actuarial deficiencies in the Government’s Superannuation Account, retroactive payments, severance pay and termination benefits (immediate settlement), and compensation for the Phoenix pay system. Totals may not add due to rounding.

Total departmental personnel spending (excluding one-time payments) reflects two main cost drivers: the size of the federal public service, measured in full-time equivalents (FTEs), and average spending per FTE. The increase in departmental personnel spending of 6.7 per cent in 2024-25 was largely driven by a 5.1 per cent growth in spending per FTE, with the remaining 1.6 per cent due to growth in the size of the public service.

Public Accounts of Canada

Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer

Public Accounts of Canada

Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer

Data are in fiscal years (2024 corresponds to fiscal year 2024-25).

In 2024-25, the federal public service expanded to 448,000 full-time equivalents (FTEs), an increase of 7,000 FTEs (1.6 per cent) compared to the previous year. This represents about 3,000 additional FTEs compared to estimated levels in the 2025-26 Departmental Plans[^6], with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) accounting for over half of this difference.

While the size of the federal public service continued to grow in 2024-25, the annual growth rate (1.6 per cent) reached its lowest point since 2016-17, marking a slowdown in the trajectory observed in recent years. The number of FTEs employed per 100,000 of the population decreased from 1,083 in 2023-24 to 1,077 in 2024-25, a decline of 0.5 per cent, reflecting lower growth in FTEs as well as historically strong population growth in 2024.

Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat

Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer

Statistics Canada

Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat

Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer

Statistics Canada

Data are in fiscal years (2024 corresponds to fiscal year 2024-25).

Total compensation per FTE increased by 5.1 per cent from $136,345 per FTE in 2023-24 to $143,271 per FTE in 2024-25, marking a second consecutive year with historically high growth in spending per FTE.[^7] This was mainly driven by an increase of 4.8 per cent in salaries, reflecting higher wages as well as non-recurring lump-sum payments made under new collective agreements that came into effect in 2024-25.

Other payments per FTE also significantly contributed to the growth in total compensation per FTE, increasing by 16 per cent in 2024-25. This increase was largely due to an employer contribution by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) that was previously categorized as a transfer payment rather than a personnel expenditure. Excluding this amount, other payments per FTE increased by 5.4 per cent compared to the previous year, bringing down annual growth in total compensation per FTE to 3.8 per cent. In contrast, spending on pensions and overtime per FTE decreased by 1.1 per cent and 2.3 per cent, respectively.

Receiver General for Canada

Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer

Receiver General for Canada

Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer