Ottawa's Pension Gap: The Growing and Under-reported Cost of Federal Employee Pensions

Alexandre Laurin and William Robson
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Alexandre Laurin: C.D. Howe Institute

No 127, e-briefs from C.D. Howe Institute

Abstract: Canadian public-sector pension plans typically do not use market yields to calculate their liabilities: if they did, Ottawa’s unfunded pension liability would stand at $227 billion – some $80 billion larger than reported in the Public Accounts. The value of the typical federal employee’s pension entitlement grows at more than 40 percent of pay annually – much faster than the contributions to fund it – putting taxpayers, most of whom face federal tax rules preventing them from funding as rich a retirement for themselves, at risk of having to bail out Ottawa’s pension plans.

Keywords: Pension Papers; Canadian public-sector pension plans; unfunded pension liability; Public Accounts (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G23 H55 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 6 pages
Date: 2011-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-age
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Published on the C.D. Howe Institute website, December 2011

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cdh:ebrief:127

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