Dear John,

With 155,000 federal public servants across Canada set to begin strike action tomorrow morning, it is important for Canadians to understand how government sector workers are compensated relative to comparable private-sector workers.

A new study published by the Fraser Institute today finds that government workers across Canada receive 8.5% higher wages, on average, than comparable private-sector workers.

They enjoy much more generous non-wage benefits, too:

• Pensions: In 2021, 86.6% of public-sector workers were covered by a registered pension plan compared to only 22.9% in the private sector.
• Early retirement: Public-sector workers retired 2.4 years earlier, on average, than the country’s private-sector workers.
• Personal leave: Government workers were absent from their jobs for personal reasons more often than private sector workers — 14.9 days compared to 9.8 days.
• Job security: In 2021, public-sector employees were approximately five times less likely to experience job loss than private-sector workers — 1.0% compared to 4.8%.

At a time when governments across Canada are facing serious fiscal pressures as a result of the recession, bringing government sector compensation in line with the private sector would help reduce costs without necessarily affecting services.

Read the full study here, and please help us spread this timely study far and wide!

Sincerely,

Niels Veldhuis
President
The Fraser Institute