Pension Gap Astounding in Canada

“Not only are government employees more likely to have workplace pensions, they typically have the ‘golden’ type – defined benefit plans,” said CTF Federal Director Gregory Thomas. “Considering most defined-benefit pension plans in the country are running a deficit, it’s time for the government to follow the private sector and get out of them.” The average government employee saw $8,734 go into their pension plan last year while everyone else saw an average of just $4,092 go into their pension plan or RRSP.

Nation-wide, Statistics Canada data shows that 87.1% of government employees have workplace pensions, up from 75.5% in 1977. Outside of government, just 24.4% of workers have workplace pension plans, down from 35.2% in 1977. * Note: Deposits for the private sector include total nation-wide RRSP contributions (estimated $33.3 billion based on average of last five years) Source: Statistics Canada “Government employees have twice as much money going into their pensions than people in the private sector, and yet, there are still massive shortfalls in their pension plans. What’s worse is that those in the private sector, who have a fraction of the pension savings, are being forced by their governments to backstop these rich government pension plans,” continued Thomas. “After scaling back their own plans, politicians across the country need to begin the work of fixing government workers’ plans.” Gregory Thomas, Federal Director