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VICTORIA - Salary increases that amount to more money than many British Columbians make in one year are needed to ensure the province attracts and keeps top government bureaucrats, says the minister responsible for labour market development.

Murray Coell defended the estimated $4 million in salary increases to the B.C. government's top 100 bureaucrats as a move necessary to keep pace with the rest of the country.

The salary increases drew immediate criticism from the Opposition New Democrats and labour groups that said the government is rewarding its top managers with huge pay hikes while most British Columbians are struggling to meet ends meet as fuel, energy and transportation costs rise.

The government announced the pay raises on Friday - retroactively effective Aug. 1 - for deputy ministers, assistant deputy ministers and Premier Gordon Campbell's deputy minister.

Coell estimated there are about 20 deputy ministers and 80 assistant deputy ministers working for the government.

Maximum annual salaries for deputy ministers will increase to $299,215 from $221,760. Assistant deputy ministers are now eligible to receive maximum annual salaries of $195,000, up from $160,000.

Campbell's deputy minister, Jessica McDonald, is in line for a raise of almost $105,000, with her salary reaching a maximum of $348,600, up from $243,936.

The new salary structure places British Columbia in third place among provinces and the federal government. Alberta and Ontario are the top paying provinces when it comes to its bureaucrats, Coell said.

Prior to the changes, the province ranked 10th place in Canada for salaries for assistant deputy ministers and sixth for deputy-minister salaries. Deputy-minister salaries are set at 83 per cent of federal salaries.

"We just can't be 10th in the country for salaries and expect we would get the best people," Coell said.

"I recognize that in being the top decision makers, they do have increased salaries. What we have to do is make sure people who are responsible for (budgets) are the best we can possibly have from across the country or from within the civil service."

New Democrat Mike Farnworth said the pay raises are unbelievable.

"I'm supremely ticked off," he said. "We can't give people a minimum wage increase - haven't had one since 2001, the government fights that tooth and nail - yet the premier's top deputy can get a $105,000 pay increase."

Farnworth suggested the government tried to blanket news about the increases by releasing the information on the opening day of the Summer Olympics when most people are on vacation of watching the Games ceremonies.

"That's a gold medal in arrogance if there ever was one," he said.

B.C. Federation of Labour president Jim Sinclair said the increases are out of touch with British Columbians.

"To give 35 per cent and 43 per cent increases to people who are already making 10 times what the average person makes in this province is an insult to everybody who pays a penny of taxes," he said. "And secondly, they've frozen the minimum wage going on eight years."

Coell said the B.C. public service is facing challenges due to an aging workforce, with 65 per cent of assistant deputy ministers set to retire within 10 years.

"We're going to need to attract new people," he said. "We want to be able to attract the best the country has to offer, and we can only do that if our salaries are comparable to Alberta and Ontario."