The federal government’s spending on employees saw record growth during the COVID-19 pandemic, says the parliamentary budget officer.
A newly published report says federal spending on personnel increased by almost 31 per cent between the 2019-20 and 2021-22 fiscal years.
Spending on salaries, pensions and other employee compensation rose from $46.3 billion to $60.7 billion over that time period.
The report says the public service expanded by the equivalent of 31,227 full-time employees between April 2020 and March 2022, which departments attribute mostly to the pandemic.
Meanwhile, average compensation for the equivalent of a full-time employee rose by 6.6 per cent, from $117,497 in 2019-20 to $125,300 in 2021-22….