Public plans added 157,900 members as total membership neared 7.4 million
Canada's private sector lost 25,800 registered pension plan members in 2024 even as national membership climbed to nearly 7.4m, exposing a widening split between public and private workplace retirement coverage.
The overall gain of 132,000 members, or 1.8 percent, from 2023 came almost entirely from public plans.
According to Statistics Canada, public sector plans added nearly 157,900 participants, a 4 percent increase, taking the public total to just over 4m.
Private sector membership, by contrast, fell 0.8 percent, dipping below 3.3m.
Coverage is thinning even as the raw numbers grow.
The pension coverage rate, or the share of paid workers who belong to a plan, slipped to 37.6 percent in 2024 from 37.7 percent a year earlier, extending a decline that the agency traces back to 1977.
Defined benefit membership drove the private sector drop.
DB membership fell by 21,300, or 1.6 percent, over the year, a decline concentrated among private employers.
Even so, DB plans remained the dominant structure, holding 68.1 percent of all RPP membership and more than 5m active members, as reported by Statistics Canada.
Steve Hatzipantelis, vice-president of wealth at Ontario-based credit union YNCU, blamed cost for the shift.
He said private employers have cut DB plans by about 1.6 percent, moving away from "costly defined benefit structures" toward defined contribution and other models.
Daniel LeBlanc, portfolio manager at wealth management firm Verecan, tied the divergence to how each sector treats retirement.
Public sector pensions "remain a key part of employee compensation and retirement security," he said.
Private employers, by contrast, face plans that "are expensive to administer" and have moved toward alternatives such as Group RRSPs.
Total contributions to registered plans still rose.
Employers and employees together put in $83.6bn in 2024, up $4.2bn or 5.4 percent from 2023, the data show.
Women continue to anchor the DB base, holding 56.1 percent of DB membership, a share weighted toward the public sector plans in health care, education, and public administration.
The erosion of private DB coverage lands as Canadians report rising unease about retirement.
In its 2026 Canadian Retirement Survey, the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan found that only 58 percent of unretired Canadians have saved for retirement at any point, fewer than half saved in the past year, and 38 percent say they are falling behind on their current standard of living, up eight points from 2025.
Workplace pensions are viewed as a hedge: 68 percent said such plans are more valuable in uncertain times, and 85 percent said all workers should have access to an affordable retirement savings arrangement, HOOPP reported.
Canada's DB base still dwarfs that of its largest trading partner.
South of the border, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that, as of March 2025, 72 percent of private industry workers had access to retirement benefits, but only 14 percent had access to a defined benefit plan against 70 percent with access to a defined contribution plan.
The contrast underlines how far the US private sector has already moved toward DC, and the direction Canadian critics say private employers are travelling.
LeBlanc said workers without a pension can copy its mechanics.
Those in a plan have contributions "automatically deducted from their pay," he said, and others can do the same with recurring contributions to an RRSP or TFSA.
Hatzipantelis added that "the earlier (you start) the better," since it builds the discipline a sound retirement requires.
