Government workers across Quebec receive higher wages, more generous benefits than comparable private-sector workers

MONTREAL, Dec. 4, 2025 /CNW/ - Government workers in Quebec enjoy a wage premium and more generous benefits compared to comparable private sector workers, finds a new study published by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank.

"With the Quebec government projecting a deficit in excess of $12 billion this year, bringing government sector compensation in line with the private sector would help reduce costs without necessarily affecting services," said Jake Fuss, director of fiscal policy at the Fraser Institute and co-author of Comparing Government and Private Compensation in Quebec, 2025 edition.

The study finds that the wages of government employees in Quebec are 26.1 per cent higher, on average, than wages in the private sector in 2024, the most recent year of available comparable data from Statistics Canada's Labour Force Survey.

After adjusting for differences such as age, gender, education, tenure, type of work, industry, and occupation, government employees are still paid 2.0 per cent higher wages (0.7 per cent when unionization is taken into account).

But wages are only part of overall compensation. Government workers across Quebec enjoy more generous non-wage benefits, too.

• Pensions: 96.6 per cent of government workers in Quebec are covered by a registered pension plan, compared to 23.7 per cent of private-sector workers. Of those covered by a registered pension plan, 95.5 per cent of government workers enjoyed a defined-benefit pension compared to 56.1 per cent of private-sector workers.
  
  
• Early retirement: Government workers in Quebec retire earlier than their private-sector counterparts— about 2.8 years on average.
  
  
• Personal leave: In 2024, full-time workers in the government sector were absent from their jobs for personal reasons more on average (16.7 days) than private sector workers (10.7 days).
  
  
• Job security: In 2024, 3.1 per cent of private sector employees experienced job loss in Quebec, compared to only 0.4 per cent of government workers.

"It's important that all levels of government in Canada—municipal, provincial and federal—continuously review expenditures with an eye to producing better value-for-money to taxpayers," Fuss said.

"Closing the compensation gap in Quebec between the government and private sectors would reduce costs and can help ensure the long-term sustainability of government finances."

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The Fraser Institute is an independent Canadian public policy research and educational organization with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal and Halifax and ties to a global network of think-tanks in 87 countries. Its mission is to improve the quality of life for Canadians, their families and future generations by studying, measuring and broadly communicating the effects of government policies, entrepreneurship and choice on their well-being. To protect the Institute's independence, it does not accept grants from governments or contracts for research. Visit www.fraserinstitute.org

SOURCE The Fraser Institute