WhatFinger


Public Sector Pensions Richer Than You Think

How much are they really worth?



When public sector unions defend their pensions they tell us that they are not overly generous and they are only $28,000 or $38,000 or $48,000 a year.
In reality most public sector retirees end up in the top 10% income tier of Canadian society and a significant portion with more income than the average working Canadian. This creates large income inequality with private sector retirees. In New Brunswick where there is a group of retirees that are suing the government because they may, if the unions and politicians agree, see a cap on their CPI or inflation protection. The province is implementing a new "shared risk" pension plan. Either the retirees agree to share or the burden is on the taxpayers all the way! The retirees are claiming that public sector pensioners are not over generous because their average pension is only $20,000 a year. This calculation omits the fact that they can be eligible to collect another $12,100 a year from Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and an additional $6,500 from Old Age Security (OAS). This gives an average retiree qualified for full pension an average income of up to $40,000 at age 65, in the first year of retirement. Currently most pension for public sector employees are guaranteed to increase by the rate of inflation every year.

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Statscan shows that less than 50% (median) of citizens over age 65 in New Brunswick collected $20,800 a year in income, in 2011. The average working wage is only $34,700 in the province. Some other notable "average" pensions include Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) $28,000 first year without CPP/OAS, Federal employees $38,000 average first year pension and Ontario teachers at $48,000 (with CPP). The Canadian average working wage was $40,500 in 2011. Remember, these retirement payouts do not include CPP/OAS or other benefits like retiree healthcare. These estimates do not include the thousands of super sized pensions that government pay out. For example Ontario provides an estimated 14,000 provincial and municipal retirees with over $100,000 of annual pension income, before CPP and other benefits. Note: This information has been obtained from Statscan and industry pension sources


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Bill Tufts -- Bio and Archives

Bill Tufts, Fair Pensions For All, founded in January 2009, our goal is to promote an honest and fair analysis of our pension system; to expose abuse and waste within the system; to develops and promote new ideas and concepts on pensions based on fairness for all.

We maintain that it is every Canadian’s right to receive sufficient income in retirement to afford an acceptable quality of life.


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