It's going to be difficult for us to compare the difference between the public service and the private sector. First and foremost, we want a sense from the numbers, when we see that 40% of the people who were working in one job last year are no longer working in that job, that type of thing. Those numbers concern this committee.
As we've talked about, the corporate memory and stability in the public service are tied to that. We're concerned, so I think it's important that we get a handle on that. Obviously as the demographics change and we see at least some of the baby boomers leaving the public service for retirement, that's also an issue we have to address.
I wonder if there has been any research into the possibility that we're going to have a complete worker shortage in the years to come. I know there was an opening of applications for some public service jobs to the regions. That's something new. It's an initiative that has just come on stream. The interesting point is that far fewer applications came from the areas than expected.
I wonder if anybody is looking at those retirement numbers in terms of possible replacements, whether we're going into a crisis situation, and if we are, what we're going to do about it. I think all these things have to start to be considered. Is there much consideration of those issues?