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Do public sector workers get paid more than their private sector counterparts?

There is no evidence that public sector workers make more money than their private sector counterparts, according to a new study released Tuesday by the Canadian Union of Public Employees.

Overall average pay levels for comparable occupations between public and private sector employers are very similar, the report notes.

Average annual pay in the public sector was $49,655, 0.5 per cent higher than the private sector average of $49,407.

But while the study shows overall average pay is similar, public sector wage scales are very different than the private sector for different groups and occupations.

Women in the public sector for example, were paid an average of 4.5 per cent more than women in similar occupations in the private sector: $45,821 compared to $43,841.

Whereas men in the public sector were paid 5.3 per cent less on average than men in similar occupations in the private sector: $57,318 compared to $60,531.

Cooks who worked in public sector workplaces were paid an average of $26,216 a year, which is 24 per cent more than the $21,089 average received by cooks who worked in private sector workplaces.

On the other hand, engineering managers were paid an average of $93,514 in the public sector, 27 per cent below the private sector average of $128,886.

Moreover, the authors of the report claim supplementary labour income, including pensions and benefits, are only 4.6 per cent more in major public sector industries than in the private sector.

The report, which uses data exclusively from Statistics Canada, comes at a time when public sector unions are trying to fend off mass layoffs as part of the Harper government's efforts to balance the budget by 2015/16.

"There is wide spread misconception that public sector workers are paid more than their private sector counterparts, and this is being used as fuel in unnecessary and unwarranted attacks on public sector jobs, wages, benefits and even the most basic rights of public sector workers," said Paul Moist, national president of CUPE, in a press release accompanying the study.

"This report clearly dispels this myth once and for all."