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Canadian Taxpayers Federation federal director Gregory Thomas said he found some of the numbers “staggering,” particularly since average household income growth is in the neighbourhood of one per cent.

“This government has been in office for six years, you wonder when are they are going to get serious about controlling payroll costs,” he said.

“They’re controlling head count, they are not taking the big tough steps of confronting government employee unions and telling them they are making too much money.”

The report points out that the 13-year period of growth comes after an earlier decade, between 1990-91 and 1998-99, when both personnel expenses and number of employees declined as a result of budget cutbacks introduced by then Liberal finance minister Paul Martin.

Since then, however, the public service has more than made up for lost time and has reached new heights in terms of number of workers and compensation.

Between 1999 and 2012, personnel costs per employee — or full-time equivalent using government terminology — rose by an average 5.1 per cent annually, more than twice the 2.1 per cent average annual inflation rate.

The growth in compensation was also well above the record in the business sector, where average annual compensation rose 3.3 per cent, and was also superior to the 3.8 per cent gain for employees working in provincial and territorial governments.

Even when the relatively lean years of the 1990s are included, federal employees come out ahead of their peers in provincial governments and in the private sector, although the differences are not as great.