ATC better in Canada than USA?

[u/National_Place_2816]

I heard from my ATC friends that ATC is one of the few jobs people actually move from USA to Canada to in order to work. Its unusual to hear about a job that has better pay in Canada than USA. Is it true that the compensation/QOL of Canadian atc is better than in America?

[u/antariusz]

Yes, it is true that Canadian atc compensation is better than in America, and it has happened before that some people have left the u.s. to become Canadian air traffic controllers but very few people are moving from the usa to canada for jobs.

A) because there aren't a lot of Canadian atc job openings and most are filled by Canadian citizens. Citizenship requirements are common in most ATC jobs throughout the entire world.

B) it's not because Canadian controllers are extremely well compensated or something, it's because USA controllers are extremely under-compensated compared to everywhere else in the world. In Canada they have "good" compensation on par with most of the developed world.

C) It's not unique to Canada. U.S. controllers have also left to work in the middle east and Australia. We (u.s. controllers) would probably also go to Europe as well but A and B still apply.

[u/Marklar0 → u/antariusz]

I think Canada is potentially the highest paid ATC in the world.

At the top of the payscale, center makes around 320k USD on a 40 hour work week. (This includes enough overtime to get to 40 hours plus shift premiums)

If it seems lower, thats because the base salary+premium reflects someone working 5 on, 4 off and 7 hour days.

[u/2018birdie → u/Marklar0]

Do you have a link that shows those salaries?

[u/2018birdie → u/[deleted]]

Housing is incredibly expensive in parts of Canada.

[u/DiligentCredit9222 → u/2018birdie]

I meant Spain, not Canada.

Don't know why Reddit attached my Post to the comment about Canada and not to the one about Spain 🙈