Figures released by the Fraser Institute show people who work in the public sector make almost 11% more than their counterparts in the private sector.
In the report, the right-wing think-tank looked at data from Statistics Canada's monthly Labour Force Survey from January to December of last year, and found that just under two-thirds of Canadian workers, or 11.6 million people, work in the private sector. In contrast, there were about 3.6 million public sector workers in Canada, or about 20% of the total labour force.
While those in the public sector are generally paid more, the gap narrows once unionization is factored in. Public sector workers only make 7.2% more, on average, than their unionized private sector counterparts.
In addition to a premium on salary, the report also found that public sector workers generally get better benefits such as retirement programs. The institute calculates public sector workers, on average, retire 2.3 years earlier than private sector workers, and are also almost eight times less likely to experience job loss.
