Employment and Social Development Canada
What Employment and Social Development Canada spent in fiscal year 2019-20: its net expenditure by standard object, from the Public Accounts of Canada, Volume II.
Reports through Families, Children and Social Development; the overview shows it in that ministry.
What Employment and Social Development Canada does
Established in 2005, Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) is a federal department responsible for supporting Canadians through social programs and workforce development. It administers key programs such as Employment Insurance (EI), the Canada Pension Plan (CPP), Old Age Security (OAS), and skills training initiatives, and it oversees Service Canada, which delivers government services directly to the public.
The department's spending is sensitive to economic conditions and major legislation. Federal income-support programs drove a sharp, temporary increase during the COVID-19 pandemic before spending returned to lower levels in the years that followed.
Spending, 2019-20
Net spending, 2019-20
$69.8B
spent by Employment and Social Development Canada, less revenues it kept
Share, 2019-20
23.0%
of the net spending of every federal organization
How did Employment and Social Development Canada spend its budget in 2019-20?
By standard object. Revenues it kept are negative and netted against its spending. Transfer payments are broken into their largest named programs.
Spending by standard object, 2019-20
Transfer payments
Personnel
Professional and special services
Rentals
Transportation and communications
Information
Acquisition of machinery and equipment
Other subsidies and payments
Repair and maintenance
Utilities, materials and supplies
External revenues
Internal revenues
$68.2B
$2.29B
$678M
$224M
$92.4M
$71.7M
$68.7M
$59.2M
$10.7M
$7.8M
-$387M
-$1.48B
Total: $69.8B.
Spending by program, 2019-20
The same net spending by program, as GC InfoBase reports program actuals: $69.8B in all. Select a program for its history, plans and results.
$56.5B
$4.84B
$2.72B
$1.2B
$956M
$511M
$486M
$401M
$268M
$208M
$140M
$121M
$105M
$98.3M
$91.4M
$77.1M
$70.8M
$66.7M
$64.5M
$60.3M
$56.9M
$54.1M
$53.8M
$50M
$49.7M
$44.8M
$37.5M
$33.8M
$28.5M
$28.2M
$28M
$27.3M
$24.1M
$23.8M
$23.7M
$23.7M
$23.2M
$21.4M
$21.4M
$19.5M
$18.4M
$16.1M
$15.6M
$15.4M
$8.9M
$8.2M
$7.8M
$7.4M
$6.4M
$6.4M
$5.9M
$3M
$2.1M
$2M
$1.1M
$731K
$604K
$499K
Workforce, 2019-20
Full-time equivalents
24,707
the actual FTEs of its programs, as GC InfoBase reports them
Personnel spending
$2.29B
salaries, wages and benefits (the personnel standard object)
Personnel spending per FTE
$93K
personnel spending divided by full-time equivalents
A full-time equivalent is a measure of employment, not a headcount: two half-time employees are one FTE. Personnel spending includes benefits and pension contributions, so per FTE it is not an average salary.
Transfer payment programs, 2019-20
The grants, contributions and other transfers Employment and Social Development Canada paid, program by program: $68.2B in all, against $68.2B for the transfer payments object above (the Public Accounts publish the two tables separately).
| Old Age Security Payments (R.S.C., 1985, c. O-9)Payments | Grant | $42,706,488,728 |
| Guaranteed Income Supplement Payments (R.S.C., 1985, c. O-9)Payments | Grant | $13,007,928,280 |
| Payments for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit pursuant to the Public Health Events of National Concern Payments ActPayments | Grant | $4,739,209,000 |
| Canada Student Grants to qualifying full and part-time students pursuant to the Canada Student Financial Assistance ActPayments | Grant | $1,583,022,844 |
| Canada Education Savings grant payments to Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP) trustees on behalf of RESP beneficiaries to encourage Canadians to save for post-secondary education for their children (Department of Human Resources Development Act)Payments | Grant | $969,415,697 |
| Workforce Development AgreementsPayments | Other transfer | $953,494,416 |
| Payments related to the direct financing arrangement under the Canada Student Financial Assistance ActPayments | Contribution | $860,805,482 |
| Payments to provinces, territories, municipalities, other public bodies, organizations, groups, communities, employers and individuals for the provision of training and/or work experience, the mobilization of community resources, and human resource planning and adjustment measures necessary for the efficient functioning of the Canadian labour marketPayments | Contribution | $801,934,779 |
| Allowance Payments (R.S.C., 1985, c. O-9)Payments | Grant | $555,643,258 |
| Payments to provinces and territories for the purpose of Early Learning and Child CarePayments | Other transfer | $395,299,719 |
| Canada Disability Savings Grant payments to Registered Disability Savings Plan (RDSP) issuers on behalf of RDSP beneficiaries to encourage long-term financial security of eligible individuals with disabilities (Canada Disability Savings Act)Payments | Grant | $371,028,405 |
| Canada Learning Bond payments to Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP) trustees on behalf of RESP beneficiaries to support access to post-secondary education for children from low-income families (Canada Education Savings Act)Payments | Grant | $216,239,609 |
| Contributions to not-for-profit organizations, individuals, municipal governments, Band/tribal councils and other Indigenous organizations, public health and educational institutions, Régies régionales, for-profit enterprises, research organizations and research institutes to support activities to help alleviate and prevent homelessness across Canada and to carry out research on homelessness to help communities better understand and more effectively address homelessness issuesPayments | Contribution | $188,566,817 |
| Contributions to provincial/territorial governments, band councils, tribal councils, Indigenous Skills and Employment Training Program agreement holders, municipal governments, not-for-profit organizations, professional associations, business and private sector organizations, consortia, industry groups, unions, regulatory bodies, ad-hoc associations, public health institutions, school boards, universities, colleges, CEGEPs, sector councils, and cross-sectoral councils to support enhanced productivity and competitiveness of Canadian workplaces by supporting investment in and recognition and utilization of skillsPayments | Contribution | $173,117,641 |
| Canada Disability Savings Bond payments to Registered Disability Savings Plan (RDSP) issuers on behalf of RDSP beneficiaries to encourage long-term financial security of eligible individuals with disabilitiesPayments | Grant | $137,353,313 |
| 48 programs | $68,188,116,418 | |
Contracts of $10,000 and under
Contracts this small are not published one by one: Treasury Board publishes each organization's totals, by calendar year, for contracts of $10,000 and under (their original value and their amendments) and for acquisition card purchases. They are the value of contracts entered into, not what was paid in a fiscal year, so they are not part of the net expenditure above, and the years are calendar years.
| Calendar year | Goods | Services | Construction | Acquisition cards | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $490,399 | $3,144,684 | $0 | $20,360,003 | $23,995,086 |
| 2024 | $472,564 | $2,598,563 | $0 | $25,443,709 | $28,514,836 |
| 2023 | $397,244 | $2,170,248 | $0 | $20,637,109 | $23,204,602 |
| 2022 | $444,852 | $1,286,079 | $0 | $28,889,477 | $30,620,408 |
| 2021 | $336,265 | $1,973,389 | $0 | $29,054,464 | $31,364,118 |
| 2020 | $503,772 | $1,659,170 | $0 | $30,566,424 | $32,729,365 |
| 2019 | $378,077 | $1,376,486 | $172 | $31,096,716 | $32,851,451 |
| 2018 | $187,890 | $1,488,269 | $2,968 | $34,885,027 | $36,564,153 |
| 2017 | $188,672 | $1,755,489 | $29,258 | $32,919,130 | $34,892,549 |
Employment and Social Development Canada’s share of federal net spending
Each year is the organization that existed that year:
- Employment and Social Development Canada, 2013-14 to 2025-26
- Department of Human Resources and Skills Development, 2003-04 to 2012-13
Other organizations in Families, Children and Social Development
Sources
- Public Accounts of Canada 2020, Volume II: Ministerial expenditures by standard object (Table 3)
- Public Accounts of Canada, Volume II: Transfer payments (multi-year open data)
- GC InfoBase – Federal Programs – Actual and Planned Spending (programs_spending.csv)
- GC InfoBase – Federal Programs – Actual and Planned Employees (programs_ftes.csv)
- Proactive Publication - Contracts: Aggregated Total - Contracts $10K and under
Department figures are net expenditure (Public Accounts, Volume II), which doesn’t add up to the accrual expenses of the overview’s headline. See the methodology.
