Skip to main content

Workers' increases less than 1/2 of economic growth

Amidst all the hysteria over public sector wages (Tim Hudak has again demanded a wage freeze for public sector workers) it is useful to ask if public sector workers are taking more than their fair share of the economic growth in Ontario --or if they are falling behind.

OCHU's comments to the Don Drummond Commission on public sector reform in Ontario, reviews just that question and finds that since 1995 hospital wages have risen less than half as quickly as the nominal growth in the economy.

Wages are paid in "nominal dollars": they are not, unfortunately, protected against inflation.  So you might have a higher dollar wage than you did ten years ago, but if inflation has increased more rapidly than your wage, you are actually less well off.  As a result, the comparison between "nominal wages" and "nominal growth" (economic growth including inflation) is appropriate.  Are the nominal dollars we are paid keeping up with the nominal growth in the Ontario economy?

In fact since 1995 nominal hospital wages have gone up 42.6%, while nominal growth has gone up 96.9%.  Growth has more than doubled our wage increase.

Somebody is getting all that extra dough, but it ain't hospital workers.

And the story is similar for most other public and private sector workers as well.

Growth continues apace (the Ontario Ministry of Finance predicts 4% nominal growth this year and about the same for 2012 through 2014).  Hudak's proposal would ensure that somebody else gets all of that, while public sector workers get none.

It's no mystery where all that extra is going.  Inequality has grown rapidly over the last few decades and our ruling elites seem determined to continue this.

All the comments from OCHU to the Drummond Commission can be found by clicking here for the full brief  on the CUPE web site.

Comments

  1. Everyone should do their part from top to bottom. Do your part and take a wage freeze.

    We really are all in this together and if each side refuses to give an inch, we are in this ever escalating high cost of living, without either side refusing to budge an inch. Each side should show a little good will. There is a whole segment of society that is not rich and also not covered by union wages that are caught in the middle wondering how they are going to survive.
    Pat

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ford government fails to respond to 72% increase in COVID inpatient days, deepening the capacity crisis

COVID infections continue to drive up hospital costs and inpatient hospitalizations in Ontario. For the most recent fiscal year (April 1, 2022- March 31, 2023) hospital stays related to COVID cost $1.221 billion, according to new CIHI data.   This is about 4% of total hospital spending, creating a very significant new cost pressure beyond the usual pressures of population growth, aging, inflation, and rising utilization.   Costs for COVID related hospitalizations increased 22.2% in Ontario in 2022/23 from the previous fiscal year, rising from $999 million to $1.221 billion.  That rise is particularly notable as the OMICRON spike of late 2021 and early 2022 had passed by the the 2022/23 fiscal year.   The $222 million increase in COVID hospitalization costs came in the same year as the Ford government cut special COVID funding and, in fact, cut total hospital funding by $156 million.     In total, there were 60,653 COVID hospitalizations in Ontario in 2022/3, up from 47,543 in 2021/2. 

More spending on new hospitals and new beds? Nope

Hospital funding:  There is something off about the provincial government's Budget claims on hospital capital funding (funding to build and renovate hospital beds and facilities).    For what it is worth (which is not that much, given the long time frame the government cites), the province claims it will increase hospital capital spending over the next 10 years from $11 billion to $20 billion – or on average to about $2 billion per year.   But, this is just a notional increase from the previous announcement of future hospital capital spending.  Moreover, even if we did take this as a serious promise and not just a wisp of smoke, the government's own reports shows they have actually funded hospital infrastructure about $3 billion a year over the 2011/12-2015/16 period. So this “increase” is really a decrease from past actual spending. Even last year's (2016-17) hospital capital funding increase was reported in this Budget at $2.3 billion - i.e. about 15% more th

The hospital crisis: No capacity, no plan, no end

While Canada has achieved universal public healthcare coverage, that does not mean conservative forces have given up trying to erode that coverage and expand corporate care where it does not currently exist. The battle has become particularly intense in Ontario under the Ford Progressive Conservative government, which is implementing serious cuts to the level of care and moving to bring in for-profit mini-hospitals. Inadequate Staffing.   Less and less of hospital spending is on staff.   Employee compensation as a share of hospital expenditures has consistently shrunk in Ontario. This is not some immutable law of hospital development.  It is in stark contrast with the rest of Canada, where compensation has become a larger share and now accounts for 67.1%. Hospitals in provinces other than Ontario now have 18 percent more staff per capita than hospitals in Ontario. Overall, if Ontario had the same staffing capacity as the other provinces and territories, there would be another 33,778 full t