The average federal employee costs $125,000 per year in salary, overtime, and benefits, according to Budget Officer Yves Giroux, who makes $255,000 annually.. Budget Officer Yves GirouxCourtesy CBC .“Total compensation per full-time equivalent increased from an average of $117,497 in 2020 to $125,300 in 2022, an increase of 6.6%,” Giroux wrote in a report Personnel Expenditure Analysis Update. .“While increases in salaries were the largest contributor, spending on pensions, overtime and bonuses grew faster.”.The Budget Office counted 413,334 employees on the payroll, including federal departments, agencies, Crown corporations and the RCMP, compared to 382,107 employees in 2020. .“This represents an annual increase of 4%, exceeding the historical average of 1%,” said the report..Most of the increased hiring, almost 60%, was by the department of Employment, the Public Health Agency and the Canada Revenue Agency. .Salaries alone ranged from $73,167 a year at the employment department to $76,874 at the Revenue Agency and $88,011 at Public Health..According to Blacklock’s Reporter, government-wide salaries averaged $90,578 a year. .Pay at the RCMP averaged $93,358 after the Supreme Court in 2015 struck a 1920 cabinet ban on a Mounties’ union as unconstitutional. Pre-union pay at the RCMP had averaged $80,978 a year..The total cost of the federal payroll was $60.7 billion annually compared to $46.3 billion before the pandemic in 2019. .“This represents average annual growth of 14.4%, well above the historical average of 3.4% per year observed over 2007 to 2020,” said the report. .“That said, even when one-time expenditures are eliminated, personnel spending over the past two years grew more than twice as fast as the historical average.”.Giroux, in testimony last December 1 at the Commons Government Operations committee, said federal hiring surpassed rates in the private sector. .“It’s mostly recent and ongoing,” said Giroux..“What is the guiding factor for the significant increases in the public service?” asked Conservative MP Stephanie Kusie (Calgary Midnapore, AB). .“It seems to be rather widespread in the public sector as the government increases its spending in various areas,” replied Giroux..“Do you believe personnel costs for the public service are in line with what is seen in the private sector in Canada?” asked MP Kusie. .“I think the growth has been faster in the public sector,” replied Giroux..The previous Conservative cabinet following the 2008 financial panic cut some 26,000 public service jobs, by an official estimate. Then-finance minister Paul Martin in a 1995 austerity drive cut 55,000 jobs.
