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Lahey and Goldenberg tracked the profile and composition of ADMs over 25 years, from the 1980s to 2012. The authors conducted roundtable discussions and interviews with current and former deputy ministers, experts, and academics as well as officials in other levels of government, the private sector and the United Kingdom about their executives.

Canada’s public service has seven levels of executives. There are 6,500 executives at the first five levels (Ex 1-5) with associate deputy ministers and deputy ministers at the top of the heap.

The assistant deputy ministers – known as Ex 4s and Ex 5s – earn between $179,000 and $200,000 a year. About seven of them a year will be promoted into deputy minister ranks.

The role of ADMs became smaller as the executive cadre grew over the past 25 years. Executive numbers soared nearly 50 per cent in that period, outpacing 12-per-cent growth in the overall public service. The big surge came in the 2000s when the size of the bureaucracy grew 35 per cent. The number of ADMs shot up 49 per cent while the numbers of those at Ex 1 to 3 levels jumped 68 per cent. The number of deputy ministers, led by new associate deputy minister positions, increased 25 per cent over the past decade.

But the study shows the makeup of ADMs hasn’t changed much in the past quarter-century. They are older and include more women but their career paths are largely the same. They are almost exclusively recruited from the public service and rise through the ranks in the same department and in the same type of position. They typically work in the public service for 20 years, with 12 years as an executive in six different positions. They are pushing 50 years old when first promoted to ADM from within their departments. Most work the National Capital Region and nearly half work in programs, services and operations. About 15 per cent work in central agencies and 13 per cent are in corporate services. Only five per cent work in the regions where most services are delivered.