One-Third of 360,000 Federal Employees Earned Six-Figure Salaries in 2023

In 2023, 120,000 Federal Employees Earned Six-Figure Salaries

February 28, 2024 TruthUSA

One-third of the federal workforce, totaling over 110,000 employees, received six-figure salaries in 2023, as reported by an advocacy group focused on taxpayers’ interests.

The number of federal workers grew to 357,247 in 2023, up by around 37 percent from 2013 when 262,817 workers were employed, according to government data.

The number of bureaucrats earning six-figure salaries also saw a 7.6 percent increase, reaching 110,593 in 2023, compared to 102,761 in 2022. This segment of the workforce has more than doubled since 2015, when 43,424 employees earned six figures.

As more bureaucrats received base salaries of at least $100,000, the total federal payroll spiked from $5.5 billion in 2015 to $13.9 billion in 2023, showing over 150 percent growth.

CTF federal director Franco Terrazzano emphasized, “Taxpayers are tapped out and can’t afford more bureaucrats taking six-figure salaries. It’s time for the feds to reduce the ballooning bureaucracy.”

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The federal payroll hit a new high of $67.4 billion in 2023, according to a recent report by the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO).

The PBO reported a 6.6 percent increase in personnel spending in the first eight months of the 2023-24 fiscal year, totaling $44.4 billion in November 2023 compared to the same period last year.

During testimony before the House of Commons Government Operations Committee, PBO Yves Giroux stated, “Since about 2016, the number of public servants has gone up dramatically, and payroll spending has increased proportionally due to more employees and higher compensation.” He noted that despite the rise in spending, significant service improvements have not been observed.

The CTF findings only cover base salary details for bureaucrats and not additional benefits. A Ministry Inquiry revealed federal employees received over $210 million in performance pay and bonuses during the 2022-23 fiscal year, as per Conservative MP Eric Melillo’s submission last November.

In April, the Public Service Alliance of Canada, the largest federal public sector labor union, led a strike involving 155,000 workers, resulting in a deal with the government for a 12.6 percent compounded wage increase over four years, marking one of the sector’s largest strikes since 1991.

The CTF has called on the federal government to release an annual “sunshine list” disclosing the number of federal employees earning six-figure salaries. Most provincial governments regularly publish such lists, except for Prince Edward Island and Quebec.

Mr. Terrazzano stressed, “The government must be transparent with taxpayers and publish a sunshine list to disclose salaries for high-paid bureaucrats. Taxpayers deserve to know how many six-figure bureaucrats they are funding.”

Jennifer Cowan and Matthew Horwood contributed to this report.

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