This section describes and interprets statistical data on the representation, hiring, promotion, and termination of designated group employees in workplaces covered by the Employment Equity Act. These data are based on annual employment equity reports filed by public and private sector employers.

Private sector employers have now been filing such employment equity reports with Human Resources Development Canada for 14 years.

In 2001, some 397 employers in banking, communications, transportation, and the "other" sector filed data on their combined workforces of about 607,000 employees as of December 31, 2000. The "other" sector includes a variety of employers such as grain companies, uranium mines, nuclear power operations, credit corporations, and museums. The number of employers reporting increased substantially from the 331 who reported in 2000, due to the addition of more than 60 employers who are subject to the Act. The majority of the additional employers report on relatively small workforces in the transportation sector.

The private sector labour force increased by 4% overall compared with the previous year. In the banking sector, employment decreased slightly, in contrast with increases in all other sectors. Overall, there were close to 30,000 more private sector hires in 2000 than in 1999, resulting in more than 100,000 opportunities to hire members of the four designated groups, particularly in the banking, communications, and transportation sectors. Although not all employers took advantage of these opportunities to improve the representation of designated group members, some progress did take place. As discussed below, outcomes varied considerably by industrial sector and designated group.

In addition, the Treasury Board reported on employment equity in 65 federal departments and agencies, with a combined workforce of more than 149,000 employees, as of March 31, 2001.

The data published by the Treasury Board indicate that there were ample opportunities to hire designated group members in the federal public service. Close to 16,000 job openings were filled -- about 2,000 more than the previous year. Of these hires, close to 3,500 were for permanent jobs. The data show that all four designated groups received greater shares of hires than the previous year. The share received by members of visible minorities was lower than their availability in the Canadian labour force. However, for the first time, their share of hires into permanent jobs, at 11.5%, was higher than the Census benchmark of 10.3%. The experiences of the four designated groups varied substantially from one department or agency to another, as discussed in more detail below.

An additional 14 separate federal agencies with a combined total of almost 69,000 employees report to Parliament under the Employment Equity Act. The largest of these is the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency, with more than 47,000 employees. Since these separate agencies are not part of Treasury Board's Annual Report to Parliament, they are not included in the following discussion.

In evaluating the latest data, the following points should be kept in mind.

• The following sections compare employee data in both the private and public sectors with the 1996 Census availability for women, visible minorities, and Aboriginal people. The accompanying graphs compare the progress of the four designated groups from 1987 to 2000.
• Availability estimates for women, Aboriginal people, and members of visible minorities are based on the 1996 Census, since employment equity data from the 2001 Census will not be available until 2003.
• The availability estimates for persons with disabilities are from the 1991 Health and Activity Limitation Survey (HALS), since a new HALS was not conducted in conjunction with the 1996 Census. The Participation and Activity Limitation Survey (PALS ) conducted in 2001 will provide updated availability data in 2003.
• Many of the more than 60 employers newly added to the list of those subject to the Act have not yet conducted workforce surveys. As a result, their first reports for the year 2000 contain representation data only for women. Therefore comparisons between data for 1999 and 2000 must be interpreted with caution. This is particularly true in the transportation sector, where most of these employers are located.
• Since a new system of grouping occupations in the private sector was adopted in 1996, it is not always possible to make comparisons at the occupational group level with data prior to that time.
• The availability estimates that the Treasury Board Secretariat has prepared for visible minorities using 1996 Census data include only Canadian citizens. In previous calculations based on 1991 Census data, the TBS estimate of 9.0% availability for the public sector was similar to the 9.1% availability estimate for the private sector, and both included landed immigrants (now known as permanent residents) as well as Canadian citizens. The 1996 Census indicates that the overall availability of visible minorities is now 10.3%. However, the TBS estimate has decreased to 8.7% because permanent residents are excluded. The TBS rationale for excluding permanent residents is that the Public Service Employment Act gives an absolute preference to Canadian citizens in public service hirings. This preference is currently the subject of a court challenge. The discussion below assesses the public service against the 10.3% benchmark for visible minorities.
• The shares of hirings or terminations in the following summaries refer to the percentage of people hired or terminated who were members of a designated group. Normally, if there were no employment barriers, a designated group would receive the same share of hirings as its availability in the Canadian labour force. For terminations, however, the group's share should correspond to its existing representation within the organization.

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