HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, Jan. 30, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Government employees in Atlantic Canada received 11.9 per cent higher wages on average than comparable workers in the private sector in 2018, and enjoyed much more generous non-wage benefits, too, finds a new study by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank.
“Bringing government-sector compensation in line with the private sector would not only help governments in Atlantic Canada control spending without reducing services, it would also maintain fairness for taxpayers,” said Alex Whalen, a policy analyst with the Fraser Institute’s Atlantic Canada Initiative.
The study, Comparing Government and Private Sector Compensation in Atlantic Canada, finds that government employees in the region—including federal, provincial and municipal workers—received 40.7 per cent higher wages, on average, than workers in the private sector in 2018.
Once the wage gap is adjusted to account for differences between workers in the two sectors—such as age, gender, education, tenure, occupation, sector, and type of work, among other characteristics—government employees were still paid 11.9 per cent higher wages than comparable private-sector workers.
And wages are only part of overall compensation. Government workers in Atlantic Canada also enjoyed more generous benefits, such as earlier retirement, more personal leave and higher rates of pension coverage.
“Of course, governments in Atlantic Canada should provide competitive compensation to attract qualified employees, but clearly wages and benefits in the government sector are out of step with the private sector,” said Ben Eisen, a senior fellow with the Fraser Institute.
Non-wage benefits for comparable workers in the public and private sectors in Atlantic Canadian provinces in 2018
| Province | Average age of retirement | Days off for personal leave | % of workers covered by pension plans | |||||
| Public | Private | Public | Private | Public | Private | |||
| New Brunswick | 61.3 | 63.6 | 14.6 | 9.4 | 91.9 | 22.8 | ||
| Nova Scotia | 61.1 | 64.0 | 15.0 | 9.3 | 91.7 | 22.4 | ||
| P.E.I. | 62.4 | 65.7 | 12.7 | 8.2 | 80.4 | 16.7 | ||
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 59.7 | 63.9 | 15.6 | 9.0 | 93.8 | 28.3 | ||
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Ben Eisen, Senior Fellow
Fraser Institute
Alex Whalen, Policy Analyst
Fraser Institute
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The Fraser Institute is an independent Canadian public policy research and educational organization with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal and Halifax and ties to a global network of think-tanks in 87 countries. Its mission is to improve the quality of life for Canadians, their families and future generations by studying, measuring and broadly communicating the effects of government policies, entrepreneurship and choice on their well-being. To protect the Institute’s independence, it does not accept grants from governments or contracts for research. Visit www.fraserinstitute.org.
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