Manitoba is struggling to rebuild its civil service after several years of downsizing in an effort to balance the provincial budget.
A slight increase in staff has been offset by resignations and retirements.
The Manitoba Public Service Commission annual report released this week paints a picture of a government trying to beef up an older workforce that’s nearing retirement in the midst of a labour shortage.
When the Progressive Conservatives formed government in 2016, then-premier Brian Pallister vowed to balance the budget and reduce the size of Manitoba’s civil service, which then numbered 14,876. It decreased each consecutive year until there were 12,232 in 2021 (a reduction of 2,644 positions, or nearly 18 per cent) and fell to its lowest level — 12,054 — in 2023.
In fiscal 2024, Manitoba reported a total of 12,287 public service employees, the report said.
“After years of chaos and cuts under the previous government, Manitobans elected our team to do things differently,” Finance Minister Adrien Sala said in a prepared statement Friday.
“We’re doing the important work of staffing up government services in important areas to make sure that we can give Manitobans the help and support that they need and deserve.”
Sala could not be reached for comment Friday.
“The rebuild is happening much slower than we would like,” said Kyle Ross, president of the Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union.
“We know since 2016, there are still 2,500-plus fewer workers in the civil service. If you take that into consideration, with how much population growth happened since then, it’s creating difficulties for Manitoba to get the services they expect.”
In 2016, Manitoba’s population was 1.27 million. In 2024 it’s more than 1.47 million.
On the bright side, the report shows a decrease in the employee turnover rate, as 1,458 employees (8.4 per cent) left the public service in the 2023-2024 fiscal year. The loss was 2,045 employees (13.4 per cent) the previous year.
It’s hard to say with certainty why the turnover rate decreased, Ross said.
“I know we did negotiate a better deal for these workers in the last contract, and I think that’s going to help with rebuilding the service,” he said. “It’s a competitive job market out there, so there will be people looking elsewhere, too.
He said the union is hopeful that the number will continue to grow to keep employees from doing the work of several people and getting burned out.
A $1.4-billion typo in a government contract posted online last month and corrected this week after an inquiry by the Free Press may be one such example.
Ross said union members have reported staffing “gaps” that are sometimes filled by students or people without necessary skills, “because in the past they wouldn’t hire.”
The public service annual report said resignations in 2023-24 account for 59 per cent of the exits, compared to 29 per cent that were retirements. The year before, resignations accounted for 43 per cent of exits, 22 per cent were retirements and 33 per cent exited for “other” unexplained reasons.
The average age of Manitoba public servants was 45.2 years old. For senior managers, it was 50.
Recent projections show that 32 per cent of public servants will be eligible to retire within five years, increasing to 53 per cent within 10 years. At the senior manager level, 43 per cent of employees will be eligible to retire within five years, and 74 per cent within 10 years.
The report said there were 1,345 competitions for jobs within the public service and 47,499 applications for those positions — an average of 28 applications per position. That’s down slightly from a year ago, when there were 1,380 competitions and 39,263 applications received.
“There doesn’t appear to be any progress made in this past year, at least nothing significant,” said independent Fort Garry MLA Mark Wasyliw, who commented on past civil service reports when he was NDP finance critic.
He pointed to a “red flag” in the report — a decrease in Indigenous public service employees. The percentage of Indigenous people employed has fallen from 14 per cent in 2015 to 12.8 per cent in 2024. The government’s target is 16 per cent.
He said senior management positions have also seen a decrease in Indigenous people and persons with disabilities. Aside from an above-target increase in the number of women in senior management, “there doesn’t seem to be any real commitment to having an equitable workforce.”
carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca
Carol Sanders
Legislature reporter
Carol Sanders is a reporter at the Free Press legislature bureau. The former general assignment reporter and copy editor joined the paper in 1997. Read more about Carol.
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