Term, casual and student positions account for 50% of federal job cuts: data

Federal government office buildings are seen in this undated photo. (CTV News Ottawa)

Nearly half of the 12,600 jobs cut from the federal public service over the last year were term, casual and student positions within the federal government, according to the data.

Statistics released by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat in June showed there were 345,282 federal public servants at the end of March, down from 357,965 federal workers in March 2025. The government employed 367,772 federal public servants in March 2024.

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The number of permanent employees in the federal public service dropped from 306,872 in March 2025 to 300,470 employees last March.

The number of term employees in the federal public service dropped from 39,478 employees in 2025 to 35,648 positions this year, while the number of students employed in the federal public service dropped by 1,463 positions to 5,907 employees in March.

Federal public servants classified as casual dropped by 989 positions to 3,221 employees at the end of March.

The Canada Strong Budget 2025, released in November, outlined a plan to reduce the size of the federal public service by 28,000 positions by 2029, including 16,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) positions eliminated through the comprehensive expenditure review. Another 12,000 jobs will be cut through attrition and early retirement packages.

More than 25,000 federal public servants and executives have received notices warning their jobs may be affected by the comprehensive expenditure review.

Executives in the public service

The number of executives in the federal public service dropped to its lowest level in 2022.

There were 9,041 executives in the federal public service at the end of March, down from 9,340 executives in 2025 and 9,155 executives in 2024.

The federal government employed 8,506 executives in March 2022.

According to the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, there were 4,466 EX-01 executives, 2,464 EX-02 executives and 1,577 EX-03 executives. The federal government employed 346 EX-04 executives and 188 EX-05 executives at the end of March.

National Capital Region

The number of people working for the federal government in the national capital region has decreased by 7,800 over the past year.

According to the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, there were 146,149 federal public servants in the Ottawa-Gatineau area at the end of March, down from 153,979 employees in March 2025. A total of 155,505 people worked for the federal government in the national capital region in March 2024.

In Ottawa, 111,200 people worked for the federal government at the end of March.

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