Sunshine List will expose six-figure salaries of Alberta government employees

[MarchHare]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Well that's just the worst IT security setup ever. Giving the ability to support people to look up salaries should get somebody fired.

What cKy is saying is that after he takes a support call from a high-earning employee, he can look up their salary on the publicly-accessible sunshine list. That has nothing to do with IT security; he can't login to the accounting system and view the salaries of lower-income employees.

[darklord700]

Originally Posted by boogerz

Seriously...

Would you rather earn $100k as a manager/director in government and get patronized for it, or jump ship to a lower or equivalent role in the private sector and earn the same or $20-50k more and preserve your privacy.

The low salary threshold on this list is mind boggling.

It ain't hard to figure out how much you make in the governement. It's much harder to do so in the private sector. If it was me, I'll always take more money.

[edslunch]

What do they expect people to do with this information?

[MarchHare]

Originally Posted by edslunch

What do they expect people to do with this information?

Write angry letters to the Calgary Sun.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Originally Posted by edslunch

What do they expect people to do with this information?

Probably write a bunch of stupid/unintentionally funny letters to the editor.

[darklord700]

Come think of it why is it an invasion to privacy if employee salaries are disclosed but it isn't to atheletes? Other than the numbers, why do we hold atheletes or movie stars to a different standard?

[MarchHare]

Originally Posted by darklord700

Come think of it why is it an invasion to privacy if employee salaries are disclose but it isn't to atheletes? Other than the numbers, why do we hold atheletes or movie stars to a different standard?

I'm just speculating, but might it be because athletes and movie stars are unionized, and union pay rates are typically publicized?

[GGG]

Originally Posted by MarchHare

Median total household income in Alberta is $89k; the national average is $72k.

Source: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tabl...il108a-eng.htm

Note that the majority of Canadian households are dual-income, so one can infer that the average salary for individuals is significantly lower than $100k.

I think we need to remember that 100k is a lot of money. Not in the world of professionals and trades working in the oil industry but in the real world outside of that bubble, 100k is a large salary. I think we look pretty entitled when we say 100k isn't alot of money or that you can barely live off if it.

That said 100k is too low of threshold to give up privacy.

[Muta]

Originally Posted by GGG

I think we need to remember that 100k is a lot of money. Not in the world of professionals and trades working in the oil industry but in the real world outside of that bubble, 100k is a large salary. I think we look pretty entitled when we say 100k isn't alot of money or that you can barely live off if it.

That said 100k is too low of threshold to give up privacy.

Agreed. $100K is a lot of money, especially when you compare it to average salaries around the rest of the world. Saying this isn't that much is a rather arrogant statement all things considered.

[Flacker]

Originally Posted by Boblobla

Agreed. There should be people making that much in the government or we are going to lose all of the good people to the private sector.

One of these things is not like the other...


I kid, I realize there are lots of valuable public sector employees.

[Flacker]

Originally Posted by Muta

Agreed. $100K is a lot of money, especially when you compare it to average salaries around the rest of the world. Saying this isn't that much is a rather arrogant statement all things considered.

While we are at it, we should also be comparing the cost of living in Calgary. $100K/year in Calgary is a lot different standard of living, if you were to compare it to somewhere with reasonable housing costs.

[Tyler]

As someone who could have their salary exposed to friends and family, I wouldn't be happy with this. Set the bar at something like $200k+ and weed out the average mid-line executive workers.

It's one thing to shout "TAX DOLLARS", it's another thing to realize the gross invasion of privacy of your next door neighbor's being able to go online and see how much you make a year.

[crazy_eoj]

It's pretty easy to figure out how much people in the private sector are making as well, don't see why we shouldn't be able to compare with the public sector.

That being said, don't see why they need to attach names to this information... why not just do it by position?

[kevman]

While they're at it why not make everyones income public? Norway publishes the income of all citizens online...

http://www.dn.no/skattelisten/

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by kevman

While they're at it why not make everyones income public? Norway publishes the income of all citizens online...

http://www.dn.no/skattelisten/

Huh, not sure how I feel about that, but I tried to find a former Norwegian intern of mine, and there he was. Nice to see him moving up in the world!

[kevman]

I don't know how I feel about it either... I was just adding another perspective to the conversation!

[TheyCallMeBruce]

Originally Posted by Muta

Agreed. $100K is a lot of money, especially when you compare it to average salaries around the rest of the world. Saying this isn't that much is a rather arrogant statement all things considered.

That's a pretty ridiculous way of comparing averages. Take malaysia for instance. A typical university educated person earns 3600 ringgit which is roughly about $1200cdn. That's a pretty comfortable living for them because a meal typically cost 5 ringgit (less than $2cdn), and you can buy a home for less than $40k cdn. 100k ringgit in malaysia goes a lot further than $100k cdn in Calgary

[MarchHare]

Originally Posted by TheyCallMeBruce

That's a pretty ridiculous way of comparing averages. Take malaysia for instance. A typical university educated person earns 3600 ringgit which is roughly about $1200cdn. That's a pretty comfortable living for them because a meal typically cost 5 ringgit (less than $2cdn), and you can buy a home for less than $40k cdn. 100 ringgit in malaysia goes a lot further than $100k cdn in Calgary

Yeah, you have to look at the purchasing power and consumer price index when comparing salaries in different locations.

However, $100k is still a very decent income in Canada, even by Alberta's standards. When darklord700 states that "$100k doesn't buy you much these days", he sounds ridiculously out-of-touch with the reality of the typical Canadian family.

[Muta]

Originally Posted by TheyCallMeBruce

That's a pretty ridiculous way of comparing averages. Take malaysia for instance. A typical university educated person earns 3600 ringgit which is roughly about $1200cdn. That's a pretty comfortable living for them because a meal typically cost 5 ringgit (less than $2cdn), and you can buy a home for less than $40k cdn. 100k ringgit in malaysia goes a lot further than $100k cdn in Calgary

No, really?

$100k is an extremely liveable wage, even in Calgary. Saying it is otherwise is just arrogance. Every area has its own income level / standard of living, but Calgary's is exceptionally high; plus, not all places are relative in income / standard of living to each other. Calgary has high incomes versus costs of living. That was the point.

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by MarchHare

Yeah, you have to look at the purchasing power and consumer price index when comparing salaries in different locations.

However, $100k is still a very decent income in Canada, even by Alberta's standards. When darklord700 states that "$100k doesn't buy you much these days", he sounds ridiculously out-of-touch with the reality of the typical Canadian family.

If 100k doesn't buy you much, I have no idea how I manage with my more average income.