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Ontario�s public sector workers tend to be far better off than 
private employees, a new study says, even as the province 
grapples to slay its growing deficit and curtail spending � a 
full half of which is dedicated to salaries, wages and benefits.

The Fraser Institute study, to be released Wednesday, found that 
federal, provincial and local government employees working in 
Ontario earned 13.9% more wages, on average, than their private 
sector counterparts in April, 2011. Government workers are also 
three times more likely to be covered by a pension plan, far 
less likely to lose their jobs and, on average, set to retire 
more than a year earlier than private workers.

Co-author Jason Clemens said if the Ontario government is 
serious about tackling the deficit � projected by the widely 
cited 2012 Drummond Report to hit $30.2-billion by 2017 � it 
will likewise need to tackle compensation.

�Pick a joke about governments going bankrupt and California is 
the punch-line, but Ontario, on every measure we�ve looked at, 
is worse than California,� Mr. Clemens said ahead of the study�s 
release. �If the government is going to tackle this deficit, 
they don�t have a choice � they�re going to have to deal with 
wages and benefits.�

Although the study itself does not offer recommendations, Mr. 
Clemens said the think-tank is slated to release a paper next 
month suggesting systematic ways Ontario could curb government 
spending on compensation. The chief problem, he said, is that 
governments enter into expensive compensation deals when they 
can afford them and then face tough union battles when the 
economy slows and spending needs to be axed.

�The key is that this isn�t just an Ontario problem � it�s not 
even a Canada problem,� Mr. Clemens said, adding that 
governments of all political stripes have had to shrink 
government compensation, pointing to the notorious Rae Days 
under former Ontario NDP premier Bob Rae in the 1990s. �The U.S. 
arguably has an even worse problem and certainly Europe is 
struggling with this right now, too�. This is a much larger 
problem about the very nature of government.�

The report was released just one day after the Ontario 
government promised to eliminate the province�s $12-billion 
deficit by 2017-2018, and one year after renowned economist Don 
Drummond released his report warning that Ontario needs to 
�swiftly and boldly� implement a whopping 362 recommendations to 
curb spending.

Mr. Clemens said the Fraser Institute is slated to issue its own 
recommendations next month, including one that will suggest 
formally tying public sector compensation to the private sector 
� for example anchoring a government employee�s overall take-
home package, including wages and non-wage benefits such as 
pension coverage and health benefits, to that earned by a 
private worker in a similar position.

Stanley Winer, the Canada Research Chair Professor in Public 
Policy at Ottawa�s Carleton University, said �it�s not a silly 
idea� in principle but cautioned there are myriad difficulties 
with taking such �radical action� in reality. Mr. Winer, who did 
not read the report because it was not yet publicly released, 
said oftentimes there is no equivalent job in the private sector 
� police officers, for example. Beyond that, he said top private 
sector workers in certain industries earn far more than their 
public sector equivalents, which could mean the government ends 
up ramping up pay in some instances.

This latest Fraser Institute study is the third to examine 
public versus private sector compensation in a particular 
province. In their report released last month, Mr. Clemens and 
co-author Amerla Karabegovic found Alberta�s public sector 
workers earned 10.3% more in wages, on average, than their 
private sector counterparts in 2011, while those in B.C. earned 
13.6% more and retired 2.8 years earlier, on average.

The Ontario study looked at 15,257 paid workers older than 15, 
with federal, provincial and local government employees 
accounting for 14.8%, 39.3% and 46% of public sector workers 
respectively.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/02/20/ontario-is-worse-than-
california-province-must-address-soaring-public-sector-wages-to-
slay-deficit-new-study-says/#disqus_thread

--
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outlaw Obama administration?

No.  Shoot the liberals immediately so they can't stab you in 
the back while you are defending yourself, then return a 
controlled rate of aimed fire.  ��

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