More than 110,000 federal employees—approximately one-third of the total workforce—took home six-figure salaries in 2023, according to an advocacy group focused on taxpayers’ interests.
With the increasing number of bureaucrats receiving at least $100,000 in base salary, the total federal payroll has surged, rising from $5.5 billion in 2015 to $13.9 billion in 2023, representing more than 150 percent growth.
“Taxpayers are tapped out and can’t afford more bureaucrats taking six-figure salaries,” CTF federal director Franco Terrazzano said in a press release. “Enough is enough, it’s time for the feds to take some air out of the ballooning bureaucracy.”
The PBO also noted a 6.6 percent growth in personnel spending during the first eight months of fiscal year 2023-24 compared to the same period last year, reaching $44.4 billion in November 2023.
“My office and I have observed a significant increase in the number of public servants over the past few years,” PBO Yves Giroux said when testifying before the House of Commons Government Operations Committee last October. “Since about 2016, the number of public servants has gone up dramatically, and payroll spending has gone up proportionally in part because there are more employees and in part because compensation is higher.”
“What we haven’t seen is significant service improvements. We have observed some recent improvements, but departmental performance indicators are not all rosy.”
“The government must be transparent with taxpayers and that means publishing a sunshine list to disclose salaries for high-paid bureaucrats,” Mr. Terrazzano said.
“We pay the bills and we deserve to know how many six-figure bureaucrats we’re paying for.”
