Employment and Social Development Canada’s 2023-24 Departmental results report: At a glance

A departmental results report provides an account of actual accomplishments against plans, priorities and expected results set out in the associated Departmental Plan.

Employment and Social Development Canada's vision, mission, and raison d'être can be found on its webpage.

Information on Employment and Social Development Canada's commitments is available in the Ministers' mandate letters.

Operating Context

Canada's economy experienced a slower growth rate in 2023. In 2023, the inflation rate was still above the Bank of Canada's target range of 1% to 3%, driven by a combination of factors, such as global supply chain disruptions, a tight labour market, extreme weather conditions, and the Russia-Ukraine war. The high costs of food, shelter, and energy products made affordability a challenge for many Canadians.

Canada’s population grew to nearly 40.8 million in January 2024, an increase of 1.3 million people from the previous year. The rise was due to both temporary and permanent immigrants to help ease labour shortages.

Employers continued to face challenges in finding candidates with the right skills. In the first quarter of 2024, there were 648,600 job vacancies, which was elevated compared to pre-pandemic levels. Labour and skill shortages stem from a mix of temporary factors and more enduring trends, including an aging population, technological shifts, and changes in consumer behavior. These dynamics will continue to impact the labour market and transform our society in the long term.

As older workers retire, the pool of experienced workers with job-related knowledge shrinks. To alleviate pressures, it is essential to improve participation of underrepresented groups-such as women, persons with disabilities, racialized populations, and Indigenous Peoples. Most of these groups saw improved labour market outcomes, but barriers and challenges can be further reduced advance their inclusion in economy and society.

Within this context, Employment and Social Development Canada offers programs that support Canadians in various aspects of their lives, reduce poverty and enhance the quality of their life. This includes the Canada-wide early learning and child care system and the Canada Child Benefit for families with children. It also includes measures to enhance affordability for students and young individuals by supporting their post-secondary education and facilitating their transition into the workforce. Simultaneously, we prioritize safe and healthy workplaces. We provide support to the middle class and protect Canadians from falling into poverty. And through the Old Age Security program, we provide crucial income stability for seniors so they can retire in security and dignity.

From a service perspective, Canadians rightly expect timely and efficient service delivery. Shifts in technology, such as the expanding use of artificial intelligence, have contributed to a rise in client expectations. Through Service Canada, our goal is to provide seamless, personalized, and easily accessible services that prioritize the client. We have made progress in serving Canadians by ensuring that services are available regardless of location or life events. The shift to digital services, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, presented challenges, but it also deepened our understanding of the client experience. This knowledge informs policy and service improvements, particularly for marginalized and underserved populations. Recognizing the risk of leaving some behind, we have worked to eliminate barriers and enhance accessibility for vulnerable individuals. Our "multi-channel" approach ensures a consistent, high-quality experience across in-person, phone, and online channels.

To enhance service delivery, we will invest in digitalization and technology platforms while addressing aging infrastructure. Our focus on security solutions will better support and protect Canadians.

Key priorities

Employment and Social Development Canada's top priorities for fiscal year 2023 to 2024 were as follows:

• Continue to focus on programs and planned activities that help Canadians live productive and rewarding lives and improve Canadian's standard of living
• Work towards making the labour force more inclusive, so all Canadians can take part
• Modernize the Passport Program to improve the delivery of services to clients
• Collaborate with the provinces and territories to reduce child care fees and work towards creating new regulated child care spaces
• Support efforts to advance reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples through the Indigenous Skills and Employment Training Program
• Improve protection measures for temporary foreign workers and reduce the administrative burden for repeat, recognized employers that have a history of meeting program requirements
• Address the misclassification of employees in the road transportation industry to protect Canadian truck drivers in precarious work

In Budget 2023 and in the Fall Economic Statement 2023, the federal government committed to reducing spending by $15.8 billion over five years, starting in the fiscal year 2023 to 2024, and $4.8 billion every year thereafter. This initiative is to ensure operations and programs are effective, efficient and directed toward the government's highest priorities. Employment and Social Development Canada intends to reduce spending by $118.5 million by fiscal year 2026 to 2027. These reductions will not impact direct benefits and service delivery to Canadians.

The first phase of this exercise focused on reductions to Travel and Professional Services. We reduced spending by $3.2 million in this area in 2023 to 2024. No employees lost their jobs as a result of these reductions. The reductions for the 2023 to 2024 fiscal year can be seen by department here: Refocusing Government Spending: Frozen Allotments in Voted Authorities in 2023-24 - Canada.ca.

We will continue to make reductions over the next three years, according to the guidance provided by the Treasury Board Secretariat on refocusing government spending.

In fiscal year 2023 to 2024, total actual spending (including internal services) for Employment and Social Development Canada was $94,443,380,714 and the total full-time equivalent staff (including internal services) was 36,615. For complete information on Employment and Social Development Canada's total spending and human resources, read the Spending and human resources section of the full report.

The following provides a summary of the department's achievements in fiscal year 2023 to 2024 according to its approved Departmental Results Framework. A Departmental Results Framework consists of a department's core responsibilities, the results it plans to achieve and the performance indicators that measure progress toward these results.

Core responsibility 1: Social Development

Actual spending: $6,884,431,661

Actual human resources: 562

Departmental results achieved

• We increased affordability of early learning and child care. Seven of Canada's provinces and territories delivered regulated child care for an average of $10 per day or less, while the remaining provinces and territories all decreased fees by at least 50%
• We supported 1,160 social purpose organizations through the Investment Readiness Program to build their capacity to access social finance and participate in the larger social innovation and social finance ecosystem
• We established a dedicated funding agreement with the Métis National Council and continued supporting and funding the Assembly of First Nations and Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami in the co-development of Indigenous indicators of poverty and well-being indicators

More information about Social Development can be found in the "Results - what we achieved" section of the full Departmental Results Report.

Core responsibility 2: Pension and Benefits

Actual spending: $77,425,657,291

Actual human resources: 7,608

Departmental results achieved

• We continued to provide seniors with a minimum income and helped to replace their income in retirement
• We worked with provincial partners to look at ways to improve the Canada Pension Plan as part of the 2022 to 2024 Triennial Review
• We consulted clients and stakeholders with experience in the Canada Pension Plan - Disability (CPPD) program and are using their feedback to inform future CPPD policy, operations, and implementation
• We launched the new Old Age Security Benefits Estimator on Canada.ca. The new tool helps people understand their eligibility for the Old Age Security pension, Guaranteed Income Supplement, Allowance, and Allowance for the Survivor

More information about Pension and Benefits can be found in the "Results - what we achieved" section of the full departmental results report.

Core responsibility 3: Learning, Skills Development and Employment

Actual spending: $8,856,955,550

Actual human resources: 16,529

Departmental results achieved

• We increased federal student loan forgiveness for health practitioners who work in eligible underserved rural and/or remote communities
• We funded projects with organizations that offer training and resources for adult Canadians under the Skills for Success Program
• We continued to assist key economic sectors in addressing current and future workforce needs through the Sectoral Workforce Solutions Program
• We funded over 120 Indigenous service delivery organizations through the Indigenous Skills and Employment Training Program
• We increased our processing capacity under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program by transitioning to a paperless application model. As a result, 91.8% of Labour Market Impact Assessment applications were submitted online. We also strengthened the employer compliance regime to increase worker protections. We completed 2,122 employer inspections, 6% of which resulted in findings of non-compliance. These led to the issuance of $2.1M in monetary penalties and the banning of 11 employers from the program
• We reduced the Employment Insurance claim inventory by about 507,000 claims in fiscal year 2023 to 2024 after launching a multi-year strategy

More information about Learning, Skills Development and Employment can be found in the "Results - what we achieved" section of the full departmental results report.

Core responsibility 4: Working Conditions and Workplace Relations

Actual spending: $197,022,291

Actual human resources: 807

Departmental results achieved

• We worked to amend the Canada Labour Code to recognize mental health as a specific element of occupational health and safety
• We continued to support 7 Work Place Harassment and Violence Prevention Fund projects to increase awareness of the Workplace Harassment and Violence Prevention Regulations and to improve access to sector-specific tools and resources
• We drafted legislation to provide employment protections for "gig" workers. The proposed changes to the Code would recognize these workers as employees, granting them full rights and protections unless their employer can demonstrate that a worker is a true independent contractor
• We drafted legislation that will mandate federally regulated private sector employers to create policies on disconnecting from work
• We launched a new pay transparency website called Equi'Vision. This website provides Canadians with user-friendly, comparative online information on designated group representation rates and pay gaps for each federally regulated private-sector employer
• We established a dedicated team on the issue of misclassification in the road transportation industry. These efforts are expected to create workplaces in the road transportation industry that are more fair, safe, respectful and inclusive for all
• We passed legislation to prohibit the use of replacement workers when unionized employees are locked out or on strike in federally regulated industries

More information about Working Conditions and Workplace Relations can be found in the "Results - what we achieved" section of the full departmental results report.

Core responsibility 5: Information Delivery and Services for Other Government Departments

Actual spending: $545,781,525

Actual human resources: 4,748

Departmental results achieved

• We continued to provide high quality services and information to Canadians on programs and benefits. We responded to nearly 12 million service requests for various programs made through different service delivery channels
• We worked through the implementation of our departmental Accessibility Plan to identify, remove and prevent barriers for both employees and clients across all service channels
• We worked with Health Canada to help deliver the Canadian Dental Care Plan (CDCP), the largest single benefit in Canadian history. Through this partnership, we improved access to oral health care for uninsured Canadian residents with annual family income of less than $90,000
• We worked through our Community Outreach and Liaison Service (COLS) to expand services to reach populations facing barriers to accessing services, whether geographical, cultural or others. We conducted 5,937 engagements with community organizations that supported vulnerable populations
• We continued to improve passport services to Canadians. We received a total of 4,984,089 passport applications. Overall, 92% of these passports were issued within set service standards

More information about Information Delivery and Services for Other Government Departments can be found in the "Results - what we achieved" section of the full departmental results report.