Government workers in Atlantic Canada receive 6.3% higher wages on average than private-sector workers

HALIFAX, NS, Jan. 7, 2026 /CNW/ - Government employees in Atlantic Canada received a 6.3 per cent higher wage premium on average than comparable workers in the private sector in 2024, and enjoyed much more generous non-wage benefits, too, finds a new study by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank.

"Bringing government-sector compensation in line with the private sector would not only help governments in Atlantic Canada control spending without reducing services, but would also maintain fairness for taxpayers," said Jake Fuss, director of Fiscal Policy at the Fraser Institute.

The study, Comparing Government and Private Sector Compensation in Atlantic Canada, finds that government employees in the region—including federal, provincial and municipal workers—received 33.0 per cent higher wages, on average, than workers in the private sector in 2024.

Once the wage gap is adjusted to account for differences between workers in the two sectors—such as age, gender, education, tenure, occupation, sector, and type of work, among other characteristics—government employees were still paid 6.3 per cent higher wages than comparable private-sector workers.

And wages are only part of overall compensation. Government workers in Atlantic Canada also enjoyed more generous benefits, such as earlier retirement, more personal leave and higher rates of pension coverage. In fact, more than 60 per cent of government workers are covered by a registered pension plan compared to less than 25 per cent of private-sector workers.

"Of course, governments in Atlantic Canada should provide competitive compensation to attract qualified employees but clearly wages and benefits in the government sector are out of step with the private sector," said Grady Munro, policy analyst at the Fraser Institute.

Non-wage benefits for comparable workers in the public and private sectors
in Atlantic Canadian provinces

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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