Government workers earn, on average, 12% more than workers in equivalent private-sector jobs, according to a Fraser Institute report released yesterday.
The report included public-sector workers at the municipal, provincial and federal levels.
"At a time when Canadian governments are drowning in debt and deficits, it's important to look at the compensation packages that government workers have long enjoyed," said Fraser Institute vice-president Jason Clemens.
"The reality is that government employees across Canada receive a hefty wage premium compared to equivalent private-sector workers.
"A system that pays a premium to government workers is not only economically unsustainable but also unfair to taxpayers."
The study said government workers also receive more benefits than their private sector counterparts. It found that 88.2% of government workers were covered by a registered pension plan in 2011 – more than triple the percentage of private-sector workers with the same benefit (26.4%).
The Fraser Institute found that fewer government employees lost their jobs in 2011 when compared with the job-loss rate in the private sector (0.6% and 3.8%, respectively).
The study also stated that government employees retired, on average, 2.5 years earlier than their private-sector counterparts.
The report outlined recommendations the Fraser Institute said would set appropriate levels of compensation for government workers.
"Governments should implement formal processes to calculate total compensation for civil servants based on the wages and benefits of comparable private-sector workers," said Clemens.
