Government pay in Canada is set by collective agreements and published pay scales. In the federal public service, positions are classified by group and level (PM-02, EC-04, IT-03 and so on), and each level has a fixed set of steps in a Treasury Board collective agreement. This page shows those federal rates for several administrative, policy and IT groups, then what government program officers earn by province in Job Bank and Census data, and national Job Bank wages for government managers. It is part of the salary by profession hub; teacher pay and military pay are covered on their own pages.
Federal public service pay scales
The rates below are annual salaries from the Treasury Board’s collective agreements: the Program and Administrative Services (PA) agreement for the CR, AS and PM groups, the Economics and Social Science Services (EC) agreement and the Information Technology (IT) agreement. Each row shows the newest rates in the agreement for step 1 and the top step of the level.
| Group and level | Group | Rates effective | Step 1 | Top step |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CR-04 | Clerical and Regulatory | June 21, 2024 | $57,217 | $61,761 |
| AS-01 | Administrative Services | June 21, 2024 | $61,786 | $69,106 |
| PM-01 | Programme Administration | June 21, 2024 | $61,786 | $69,106 |
| PM-02 | Programme Administration | June 21, 2024 | $68,849 | $74,180 |
| PM-03 | Programme Administration | June 21, 2024 | $73,798 | $79,511 |
| PM-04 | Programme Administration | June 21, 2024 | $80,612 | $87,108 |
| PM-05 | Programme Administration | June 21, 2024 | $96,235 | $104,044 |
| PM-06 | Programme Administration | June 21, 2024 | $112,834 | $129,017 |
| EC-02 | Economics and Social Science Services | June 22, 2025 | $70,338 | $80,642 |
| EC-04 | Economics and Social Science Services | June 22, 2025 | $83,862 | $97,051 |
| EC-06 | Economics and Social Science Services | June 22, 2025 | $113,278 | $131,375 |
| IT-01 | Information Technology | December 22, 2024 | $69,361 | $89,382 |
| IT-02 | Information Technology | December 22, 2024 | $85,854 | $105,080 |
| IT-03 | Information Technology | December 22, 2024 | $101,343 | $125,914 |
| IT-04 | Information Technology | December 22, 2024 | $116,037 | $144,434 |
The PA agreement’s expiry date was June 20, 2025, the IT agreement’s December 21, 2025 and the EC agreement’s June 21, 2026. The rates above are the newest each signed agreement contains; Treasury Board publishes the rates of each new agreement on the same pages.
Within a level, the gap between steps is set by the agreement. A PM-04, for example, runs from $80,612 at step 1 to $87,108 at the top step, a difference of $6,496, and step 1 of PM-05 is $9,127 above the top of PM-04.
Executives (the EX group) are not covered by these agreements; their rates are on Treasury Board’s page of rates of pay for the EX group: from April 1, 2025, EX-01 ranges from $137,524 to $161,773 and EX-05 from $221,654 to $260,719.
Program officer and policy manager wages
Program officers unique to government (NOC 41407), such as officers in international relations, federal-provincial affairs, elections and tribunals, have their own Job Bank code. Policy analysts are coded by field instead (for example, 41401 for economic policy and 41403 for social policy), and the government managers in health, economic and education policy each have a code of their own.
| Occupation (NOC) | Low (per hour) | Median (per hour) | High (per hour) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Program officers unique to government (41407) | $26.83 | $43.71 | $66.67 |
| Government managers, health and social policy (40010) | $46.00 | $61.54 | $75.00 |
| Government managers, economic policy (40011) | $47.60 | $63.40 | $80.22 |
| Government managers, education policy (40012) | $47.01 | $63.74 | $68.68 |
Source: Job Bank wages (Employment and Social Development Canada), 2023-2024, Labour Force Survey. Low is the 10th percentile and high the 90th percentile of wages.
A program officer at the national median of $43.71 an hour would be paid about $85,235 for a 1,950-hour year. Of the provinces Job Bank reports, British Columbia has the top median for the occupation ($48.00) and Prince Edward Island the bottom one ($36.28):
| Region | Low (per hour) | Median (per hour) | High (per hour) | Period and data |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canada | $26.83 | $43.71 | $66.67 | 2023-2024, Labour Force Survey |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | $26.22 | $43.20 | $57.01 | 2024, Small Area Estimation |
| Prince Edward Island | $21.54 | $36.28 | $53.16 | 2023-2024, Labour Force Survey |
| Nova Scotia | $26.22 | $41.93 | $61.49 | 2024, Small Area Estimation |
| New Brunswick | $26.44 | $42.58 | $57.33 | 2023-2024, Labour Force Survey |
| Quebec | $28.85 | $37.50 | $57.66 | 2023-2024, Labour Force Survey |
| Ontario | $33.33 | $46.15 | $69.23 | 2023-2024, Labour Force Survey |
| Manitoba | $23.96 | $37.30 | $58.82 | 2024, Small Area Estimation |
| Alberta | $28.71 | $44.05 | $60.66 | 2024, Small Area Estimation |
| British Columbia | $26.83 | $48.00 | $66.05 | 2023-2024, Labour Force Survey |
| Yukon | $36.55 | $55.13 | $69.52 | 2024, Small Area Estimation |
| Northwest Territories | $46.95 | $63.93 | $81.37 | 2024, Small Area Estimation |
| Nunavut | $26.36 | $59.83 | $82.73 | 2024, Small Area Estimation |
Source: Job Bank wages (Employment and Social Development Canada), NOC 41407. Low is the 10th percentile and high the 90th percentile of wages.
Program officers in the 2021 Census
“Government worker” covers a wide range of occupations, so the Census figures below use program officers unique to government as one common professional role. Their national median employment income for 2020 was $87,000; Ontario’s median, $92,000, was the highest of the ten provinces, and Prince Edward Island’s, $67,000, the lowest.
| Province | Median, 2020 | Median in August 2026 dollars | Average in August 2026 dollars |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canada | $87,000 | $107,900 | $112,800 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | $87,000 | $107,900 | $109,100 |
| Prince Edward Island | $67,000 | $83,100 | $109,100 |
| Nova Scotia | $81,000 | $100,400 | $109,100 |
| New Brunswick | $74,000 | $91,700 | $99,200 |
| Quebec | $75,500 | $93,600 | $100,300 |
| Ontario | $92,000 | $114,100 | $121,500 |
| Manitoba | $78,000 | $96,700 | $101,700 |
| Saskatchewan | $81,000 | $100,400 | $111,600 |
| Alberta | $87,000 | $107,900 | $110,100 |
| British Columbia | $84,000 | $104,100 | $108,400 |
Source: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census of Population, Table 98-10-0586-01: employment income in 2020 of people who worked full year, full time. Columns in August 2026 dollars multiply the 2020 figure by the change in the Consumer Price Index from its 2020 average to August 2026 and round to the nearest $100; they are not newer survey results.
Provincial and municipal governments
Provinces and municipalities have their own public service collective agreements and pay scales, separate from the federal ones above. The Job Bank and Census tables by province show what program officers earn across all of them; for a particular provincial job, the posting and that province’s agreement give the pay range.
Pension and benefits
Salary is only part of public-service compensation: federal public servants are covered by the Public Service Pension Plan, a defined benefit plan, and the collective agreements set leave and other benefits. How a defined benefit pension compares with saving on your own is covered in defined benefit vs defined contribution pensions.
Applying for a federal job
Federal jobs are posted on the Government of Canada jobs site, where applicants sign in with a GC Jobs account. Postings give the position’s group and level, which is what links a job to the pay tables above. Some positions are bilingual and require a level of proficiency in the second official language: basic (A), intermediate (B) or advanced (C) in each of reading, writing and oral communication, shown in the position’s linguistic profile and assessed through the Public Service Commission’s second language evaluation (Treasury Board qualification standards).
Related reading
Sources
The figures and rules on this page come from these sources, last checked against them between September 24, 2026 and October 4, 2026. How we check facts.
- Government of Canada: Program and Administrative Services (PA)
- Government of Canada: Economics and Social Science Services (EC)
- Government of Canada: Information Technology (IT)
- Government of Canada: Executive (EX) - Rates of pay for certain excluded and unrepresented groups and levels
- Government of Canada: Wages - Open Government Portal
- Statistics Canada: Statistics Canada
- Statistics Canada: Consumer Price Index, annual average, not seasonally adjusted
- Statistics Canada: Consumer Price Index, monthly, not seasonally adjusted