Government wages in Ontario 13.4 per cent more than private sector: Fraser report

YorkRegion.com
Feb. 7, 2017
Lisa Queen

The tone of constant studies from the Fraser Institute comparing public and private sector wages and benefits appear to suggest coddled government workers enjoy compensation out of line with the real world, a York University human resources professor said.

But Prof. Parbudyal Singh, a Richmond Hill resident who specializes in compensation issues, questions whether that’s fair.

“It’s the perspective that the report takes that I will differ with. Someone reading this and not knowing the situation across jurisdictions, they may get the image of a public sector worker as overpaid, relatively lazy, enjoying a lot of benefits and that’s not the case,” he said.

“Public sector workers are hard-working, they’re very educated, they’re generally a little bit older, heavily unionized and all of these factors help with driving up wages in the public sector.”

Singh was reacting to the latest Fraser report, released Feb. 2, showing government workers in Ontario are paid 13.4 per cent more, on average, than comparable employees in the private sector.

Government workers also retire earlier, take more time off work, have better pensions and enjoy better job security., the study said.

This report follows a similar Fraser report on gold-plated wages and benefits government compensation on a national level in December.

Studies showing compensation differences between public and private sector jobs in Ontario, Canada, the United States and Europe are not new, Singh said.

But he argued large private companies likely offer their employees similar wages and benefits to governments.

“I think a different perspective would be … it’s not that government workers are overpaid but whether or not they are paid fairly,” he added.

“If we look at all the factors that go into the compensation process, in terms of determining pay, there’s nothing wrong with how the public sector workers are being paid. On the other hand, if we look at the private sector, and I don’t want to paint a broad brush, but there are some private sector companies that don’t pay fairly.”

Meanwhile, there is less of a wage gap between men and women employees in the public sector than the private sector. If that was properly accounted for, it would likely reduce the different between government and non-government compensation, Singh, a member of a provincially-appointed steering committee on the gender wage gap, said.

Doug Sheppard, unit chair with the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 905, which represents about 5,000 municipal workers in the region, is sick of the constant barrage of Fraser reports with what amount to the same message.

“At some level, these Fraser Institute 'reports' are becoming a bit tiresome. My initial reaction would be that it sends a clear message to workers that in order to receive a decent wage, benefits, and working conditions they should actively join a union,” he said.

“As I have said in the past, the Fraser Institute is a non-progressive think-tank that actively fails to mention enormous CEO salaries, but conversely would attack our basic working conditions. Instead of pitting workers against each other and having a race to the bottom mentality while the (richest) 1 per cent continues to see wage and benefit increases, we should be turning our minds to bettering the lives of all hard-working Canadians.”

But Teena Bogner, president of the Newmarket Taxpayers Advocacy Group (N-TAG), feels the Fraser reports serve a useful function in pointing out the difference between public and private sector compensation.

“In this current economic reality, corporations, and individuals, have learned to do more with less. Long gone are defined pension plans, early retirement, sabbaticals and job security.  In today’s economy, corporations and individuals are working more, earning less, and learning to live without the perks of previous decades,” she said.

 "Yet, in civil service a yearly salary increase is expected, the pension plans are par none, and employees enjoy 'a job for life.' Those who are struggling in today’s economy are funding the government payrolls.”

Some governments don’t use performance objectives, said Bogner, who said N-TAG gave a deputation at Newmarket council criticizing the town for not having written, annual performance objectives corporatewide.

“Written expectations and measurements on performance will financially reward those who meet and exceed objectives, and put a performance plan in place for those who fail to meet objectives,” she said.

 "It is uncertain what other governments do relating to performance. However, governments need to adopt an approach similar to corporate Canada to measure and set performance and corporate objectives.”

Bogner praised governments that have recognized the need to reduce bloated bureaucracies, which are “detrimental to staff performance and morale, and to the taxpayers who fund the corporation.  They have taken steps to reduce staff in recognition of a management-heavy, redundant workforce.  We would encourage all governments to do the same.”