OTTAWA — The number of students working for the federal government fell almost 20 per cent between 2024 and 2025.

Data provided by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat shows 9,120 students were employed in the federal public service at the end of March 2024. A year later, in March 2025, that number had fallen to 7,370.

Employees on leave without pay, ministers’ exempt staff, employees locally engaged outside of Canada, some RCMP and Canadian Forces members and some agencies were excluded from the data.

The biggest cut in student employment was at Canada Revenue Agency, which saw its student workforce drop from 1,356 in March 2024 to 268 in March 2025.

Etienne Biram, a spokesperson for the CRA, said in a recent email to The Canadian Press that the decrease can be attributed to the C

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