Employment and Social Development Canada
What Employment and Social Development Canada spent in fiscal year 2020-21: its net expenditure by standard object, from the Public Accounts of Canada, Volume II.
Reports through Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion; 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, 2020-21
Net spending, 2020-21
$163B
spent by Employment and Social Development Canada, less revenues it kept
Share, 2020-21
37.0%
of the net spending of every federal organization
How did Employment and Social Development Canada spend its budget in 2020-21?
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, 2020-21
Transfer payments
Personnel
Professional and special services
Rentals
Other subsidies and payments
Transportation and communications
Information
Acquisition of machinery and equipment
Utilities, materials and supplies
Repair and maintenance
External revenues
Internal revenues
$161B
$2.86B
$844M
$276M
$245M
$71.2M
$66.4M
$64.1M
$9.7M
$6.1M
-$476M
-$1.98B
Total: $163B.
Spending by program, 2020-21
The same net spending by program, as GC InfoBase reports program actuals: $163B in all. Select a program for its history, plans and results.
$61.4B
$40.7B
$27.5B
$16.9B
$6.86B
$2.42B
$1.2B
$1.18B
$597M
$563M
$549M
$420M
$400M
$272M
$197M
$130M
$101M
$85.2M
$83.3M
$82.5M
$75.6M
$65.1M
$63.8M
$57.2M
$57.1M
$55.8M
$55.4M
$54M
$43.5M
$43.4M
$41.6M
$33.9M
$33.6M
$31M
$29.7M
$26.4M
$25.6M
$24.7M
$22.7M
$21.7M
$21.3M
$21M
$19M
$18.9M
$16.9M
$16.9M
$14.6M
$11.3M
$9.2M
$6.7M
$6.6M
$6.5M
$4.6M
$2.7M
$2.1M
$2M
$1.8M
$1.5M
$1.1M
$910K
$521K
Workforce, 2020-21
Full-time equivalents
28,296
the actual FTEs of its programs, as GC InfoBase reports them
Personnel spending
$2.86B
salaries, wages and benefits (the personnel standard object)
Personnel spending per FTE
$101K
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, 2020-21
The grants, contributions and other transfers Employment and Social Development Canada paid, program by program: $161B in all, against $161B 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 | $44,382,661,808 |
| Payments for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit pursuant to the Public Health Events of National Concern Payments ActPayments | Grant | $40,563,570,750 |
| Benefit enhancement measures for the Employment Insurance Operating AccountPayments | Grant | $27,331,431,907 |
| Payments for the Canada Recovery Benefit pursuant to the Canada Recovery Benefits ActPayments | Grant | $14,417,284,976 |
| Guaranteed Income Supplement Payments (R.S.C., 1985, c. O-9)Payments | Grant | $13,685,088,912 |
| Payments for the Canada Emergency Student Benefit pursuant to the Public Health Events of National Concern Payments ActPayments | Grant | $2,944,026,750 |
| Canada Student Grants to qualifying full and part-time students pursuant to the Canada Student Financial Assistance ActPayments | Grant | $2,920,803,871 |
| Payments for additional support for Canadian seniors pursuant to the Public Health Events of National Concern Payments ActPayments | Grant | $2,454,917,600 |
| Payments for the Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit pursuant to the Canada Recovery Benefits ActPayments | Grant | $1,956,732,950 |
| Payments to support provincial and territorial job training efforts pursuant to the Public Health Events of National Concern Payments ActPayments | Contribution | $1,498,300,000 |
| 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 (Canada Education Savings Act)Payments | Grant | $1,016,678,793 |
| Workforce Development AgreementsPayments | Other transfer | $922,000,000 |
| One-time payment to persons with disabilities pursuant to An Act respecting further COVID-19 measuresPayments | Grant | $787,551,598 |
| 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 | $775,292,320 |
| Payments related to the direct financing arrangement under the Canada Student Financial Assistance ActPayments | Contribution | $668,499,215 |
| 65 programs | $160,650,309,030 | |
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 Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion
Sources
- Public Accounts of Canada 2021, 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.
