Study
| EST. READ TIME 1 MIN.Comparing Public and Private Compensation in Alberta
As Alberta?s provincial government continues to struggle with deficits and as it tries to constrain spending, there is heightened interest in how wages and non-wage benefits (i.e., total compensation) in the public sector compare with those in the private sector. This study replicates a previously used methodology by which to compare wages in the two sectors. It then compares some available non-wage benefits more generally in an attempt to quantify compensation differences between the province?s public and private sectors.
This paper is divided into three distinct sections. The first reviews past research comparing the compensation of the public and private sector workers. The second section presents and explains the wage comparisons between the private and public sectors (broadly defined) in Alberta. It also presents a summary of the methodology employed to compare and calculate differences in wages between the two sectors. Finally, the third section compares three available non-wage benefits, namely, pension coverage, the age of retirement, and layoffs, in order to gauge the generosity of non-wage benefits in the private and public sectors.
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Amela Karabegovic
Amela Karabegovi is a former Senior Economist of the Fraser Institute. She holds a B.M. (Great Distinction) in General Managementfrom the University of Lethbridge in Alberta and an M.A. in Economics from Simon Fraser University in British Columbia. She was a coauthor of the Economic Freedom of North America , Economic Freedom of the Arab World , Myths and Realities of TILMA , Transparency of Labour Relations Boards in Canada and the United States , Measuring Labour Markets in Canada and the United States , Measuring the Flexibility of Labour Relations Laws in Canada and the United States , Tax and Expenditure Limitations: The Next Step in Fiscal Discipline , and the Prosperity Series-Ontario .… Read more Read Less… -
Jason Clemens
Executive Vice President, Fraser Institute
Jason Clemens is the Executive Vice President of the Fraser Institute and the President of the Fraser Institute Foundation. Hehas an Honors Bachelors Degree of Commerce and a Masters Degree in Business Administration from the University of Windsor as well as a Post Baccalaureate Degree in Economics from Simon Fraser University. Before rejoining the Fraser Institute in 2012, he was the director of research and managing editor at the Ottawa-based Macdonald-Laurier Institute and prior to joining the MLI, Mr. Clemens spent a little over three years in the United States with the San Francisco-based Pacific Research Institute. He has published over 70 major studies on a wide range of topics, including taxation, government spending, labor market regulation, banking, welfare reform, health care, productivity, and entrepreneurship. He has published over 300 shorter articles, which have appeared in such newspapers as The Wall Street Journal, Investors Business Daily, Washington Post, Globe and Mail, National Post, and a host of U.S., Canadian, and international newspapers. Mr. Clemens has been a guest on numerous radio and television programs across Canada and the United States. He has appeared before committees of both the House of Commons and the Senate in Canada as an expert witness and briefed state legislators in California. In 2006, he received the coveted Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 award presented by Caldwell Partners as well as an Odyssey Award from the University of Windsor. In 2011, he was awarded (along with his co-authors) the prestigious Sir Antony Fisher International Memorial Award for the best-selling book The Canadian Century. In 2012, the Governor General of Canada on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen, presented Mr. Clemens with the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in recognition of his contributions to the country.… Read more Read Less…
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