Thousands of federal jobs are on the line in Canada – here’s how HR can take advantage of promising job candidates
Workforce adjustment notices, early retirement offers and research centre closures are turning long-stable federal careers upside down, creating both anxiety for public servants and a potential recruiting opportunity for employers willing to understand what is really happening on the ground.
For employers, the first issue is scope. The federal government has launched a “comprehensive expenditure review” aimed at cutting program spending and administration costs by about $60 billion over five years, using attrition, early retirement and workforce adjustment to shrink the public service.
The government “plans to cut the number of public service jobs by about 40,000 from a peak of 368,000 in 2023-24,” and about 10,000 jobs have been eliminated already, according to a Canadian Press (CP) report. That same report said that more than 68,000 public servants have received letters outlining an early retirement option, which the federal budget said it intends to implement for one year “as soon as this month.”
Timeline and labour market ripple effects for employers
Michael Wernick, professor and Jarislowsky chair in public sector management at the University of Ottawa and former clerk of the Privy Council, cautions that employers should not expect an immediate flood of federal résumés.
“We're a long way from very many people showing up,” he says. “In the labour market, they're moving through the very early stages of a complicated algorithm that has several steps to it.”
Likening the process to a “goat in the python,” Wernick says talent will emerge in waves; some candidates will be navigating uncertainty for months while still employed, while others such as contractors will be able to transition more seamlessly.
They will also be dispersed, he adds, pointing out that the perception that federal workers are largely office workers is incorrect, and they in fact work in diverse industries and locations.
“There's no such thing as a generic public servant,” he says.
“They’re auditors, they’re financial analysts, they’re IT people, they’re communication [operators], they’re scientists, they’re lawyers, they’re prison guards, and so on.”
Geography matters: where public servants will land
Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat data underscore just how large and dispersed the federal workforce is; as of March 31, 2025, there were 357,965 employees in the federal public service, up from 257,034 in 2010, with about 153,979 in the National Capital Region and tens of thousands more across provinces such as Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia and Alberta.
Although Ottawa remains the centre of federal employment, Wernick stresses that employers across the country should pay attention: “This will show up in Vancouver and Moncton and Lethbridge and all these other local labour markets.”
The closure of rural research operations is already illustrating how local impacts can unfold – Agriculture and AgriFood Canada (AAFC) has announced it is closing seven research operations across the country, including satellite research farms in Scott and near Indian Head, Saskatchewan, CBC reported.
AAFC said that nationally about 665 positions were “reduced” from the department, and that almost 1,050 have been notified.
For employers in affected rural regions, Wernick says this kind of action can suddenly place highly specialized talent into the job market, often with deep local roots.
“They will land in a geographic area with a particular occupational background,” he says, adding that employers who understand how federal classifications map onto their own job families will be better positioned to identify transferable skills and craft realistic job descriptions.
Movement between sectors and specialized talent
Wernick pushes back against the perception that the federal public service is a sealed system, with workers “behind a drawbridge.” In actuality, he says, there is more back-and-forth between the public and private sectors than people imagine, “especially if you have something to offer that's relatively specialized.”
For employers to take note, this means many laid-off or surplus public servants will already have some exposure to private sector norms, performance expectations and client service, especially in fields like law, accounting, IT or consulting.
These candidates will bring “packages of knowledge,” he says, “and experience to bear that will be of interest,” including deep familiarity with regulatory and procurement processes, program design, Indigenous relations or sector-specific science and research.
Employers who want to take advantage of this specialized expertise can determine where that institutional knowledge will add efficiency and value into their own functions.
Candidate experience: income and job security concerns
From the perspective of individual public servants, Wernick suggests the biggest shock is likely financial rather than about adapting to a new kind of employer.
Public Service Alliance of Canada national president Sharon DeSousa told CP that union members are being impacted by a “lack of transparency” from Ottawa about the job cuts: “It's impacted our members, their mental health, they don't know if they're going to be next.”
Wernick echoes this anxiety, explaining that financial insecurity is going to be top of mind for public service workers who are experiencing precarity – something potential employers should be aware of if wanting to recruit from their ranks.
“I wouldn't be so worried about their adaptability to new environments,” he says. Instead, he anticipates that these candidates “will be more angsty about the loss of income and being precarious, and ‘how am I going to pay my bills and look after my kid’s tuition, or my parents’ … whatever it is.”
