Skip to main content

Public sector employment in Ontario falls short of other provinces



Yesterday, I noted that public sector employment in Ontario has declined as a percentage of total employment. But public sector employment in Ontario is also low when compared with the other provinces.

In 2012, public sector employment was 19.6% of all classes of workers in Ontario (public sector, private sector, and self-employed).  Canada-wide, however, the average is 20.6%.   In all other provinces except Alberta and British Columbia, public sector workers are a bigger part of the workforce. 

Public sector workers are also a bigger percentage of the population in all other provinces, except Alberta and British Columbia.  

If we had the same percentage of the population working in the public sector as the Canada-wide average, we would have another 65,000 public sector jobs in Ontario.  The same would be true if we had the same percentage of jobs in the public sector as the Canada-wide average.   

Finally, at 65% of the workforce, private sector workers make up a bigger percentage of the workforce in Ontario than in every other province except (where else?) Alberta.

(For the chart supplying the data for the information noted above, click here  -- download the document for easier viewing). 

Ontario's low ranking in terms of public sector work is odder still if you consider that the national capital is located in Ontario  -- along with many tens of thousands of federal public service jobs.

The good news is that the decline in public sector employment as a percentage of work has been less marked in Ontario than across Canada.  In 1976, public sector employment Canada-wide was 23.7% of all work, but it had declined to 20.6% by 2012 -- a very large 3.1% decline.  The decline in Ontario has been more modest -- from 22.2% of all work to 19.6%, a mere 2.6% decline.  


For that, I guess, working people in Ontario can be proud.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

More spending on new hospitals and new beds? Nope

Hospital funding:  There is something off about the provincial government's Budget claims on hospital capital funding (funding to build and renovate hospital beds and facilities).    For what it is worth (which is not that much, given the long time frame the government cites), the province claims it will increase hospital capital spending over the next 10 years from $11 billion to $20 billion – or on average to about $2 billion per year.   But, this is just a notional increase from the previous announcement of future hospital capital spending.  Moreover, even if we did take this as a serious promise and not just a wisp of smoke, the government's own reports shows they have actually funded hospital infrastructure about $3 billion a year over the 2011/12-2015/16 period. So this “increase” is really a decrease from past actual spending. Even last year's (2016-17) hospital capital funding increase was reported in this Budget at $2.3 billion - i.e. about 15% more th

Ford government fails to respond to 72% increase in COVID inpatient days, deepening the capacity crisis

COVID infections continue to drive up hospital costs and inpatient hospitalizations in Ontario. For the most recent fiscal year (April 1, 2022- March 31, 2023) hospital stays related to COVID cost $1.221 billion, according to new CIHI data.   This is about 4% of total hospital spending, creating a very significant new cost pressure beyond the usual pressures of population growth, aging, inflation, and rising utilization.   Costs for COVID related hospitalizations increased 22.2% in Ontario in 2022/23 from the previous fiscal year, rising from $999 million to $1.221 billion.  That rise is particularly notable as the OMICRON spike of late 2021 and early 2022 had passed by the the 2022/23 fiscal year.   The $222 million increase in COVID hospitalization costs came in the same year as the Ford government cut special COVID funding and, in fact, cut total hospital funding by $156 million.     In total, there were 60,653 COVID hospitalizations in Ontario in 2022/3, up from 47,543 in 2021/2. 

Paramedic Services in Canada: Structure, Privatization, Unionization and other issues

Governance and Funding :  While police and fire services are usually municipal services, Emergency Medical Services (EMS) are typically controlled by provincial governments.  In Ontario, regional municipal governments have responsibility for delivering and funding EMS.  But even in Ontario the province plays a key role, strictly regulating EMS, providing funding for 50% of the approved land ambulance costs, and paying 100% of the approved costs for air ambulance, dispatch, base hospitals, First Nation EMS, and for territories without municipal government. Delivery :  Like police and fire services, EMS is predominantly a publicly provided service in Canada.   But businesses have now made some significant in-roads into EMS, primarily  Medavie,  a private corporation based in the Maritimes that describes itself as not-for-profit.  Medavie goes back over 70 years, with its roots in health insurance.  It still operates Medavie Blue Cross with 1,900 employees.  It now a