Examining salaries in the private sector
By Letter to the Editor on August 21, 2019.
In recent weeks Gillian Slade has written two editorials regarding public and private sector workers concentrating on, and subsequently attacking, public sector wages and benefits. In her Aug. 2 editorial she states “This includes paying staff reasonable salaries and pensions in line with the private sector.” Ms. Slade needs to back up this statement, which assumes that wages and pensions in the public sector are out of line, with facts. In an earlier editorial she does provide us with some insight into the highest salary levels of public servants, but does not consider the salaries and benefits of equivalent private sector jobs. I know that not all jobs are created equally. We can consider, however, some parameters that could point to interesting conclusions. We can take into account how many years or training and investment a person is required to have to be allowed to meet industry standards for their job and would, therefore, be compensated accordingly. We could consider the importance or value a job has to society. Are teachers more important to us than police officers or are engineers more important than doctors? Or we could compare how difficult different jobs are. It is probably wise to ignore these parameters as I doubt if we could reach a consensus. What are we left with? Ms. Slade is right when she writes that it is salary and benefits. The following is taken from the 2017 Alberta Wage and Salary Survey conducted by R.A. Malatest and Associates LTD. on behalf of the Alberta Government. The information was collected from employers. The information is available online at “Alberta alis.” Let us start with senior management. In construction, transportation, products and utilities: $180,688 In financial, communications, business services $166,586 In health, education, social and community services: $133,265 Engineering managers: $146,586 Careers that require one university degree (individuals in this category may have more than one) Registered nurse: $80,129 Teachers: $78,971 Investment brokers: $85,409 Mining engineer: $116,579 Mechanical engineer: $107,815 Social, mental health workers (this is shameful): $65,593 Careers requiring technical certificate or diploma Medical lab tech: $77,398 Pharmacy tech: $35,922 Nurse aid: $34,578 Gas fitters: $77,470 Geological tech: $91,026 Instructor of persons with disabilities: $34,076 Industrial mechanics: $84,744 Early child educators: $29,245 Tech in museums and art galleries: $28,249 Other Dentists: $154,564 Lawyers: $137,072 Police officer: $101,059 Publishing manager: $110,077 Welders: $75,289 Journalists: $72,527 I could go on some more. These statistics are for salaries only (all are averages) and do not include pensions and benefits. Does Ms. Slade want us to believe that private service employees do not have benefits (even Tim Hortons and Sobeys have plans), severance packages and pension plans (check out Walmart)? I would like to characterize one of her arguments differently: The private sector exists for profit (many of the shareholders don’t even live in Alberta) and the public sector exists for service. Both are needed for a healthy, vibrant and equitable society. In closing I think teachers, doctors, and nurses should be compensated as much as engineers. Jim Schmid Medicine Hat 36-35
