The number of public sector workers earning more than $100,000 a year jumped by 26 per cent in 2001.

It is the largest one-time increase since the so-called “sunshine law” was introduced by the Conservative government in 1996 to shed light on how taxpayer dollars were being spent.

The salaries were released yesterday in the annual Public Sector Salary Disclosure list.

The list includes workers in the Ontario Public Service, the broader public sector ― including municipalities, universities, school boards and hospitals ― as well as agencies, boards and commissions who draw a salary from the public purse and make more than $100,000 a year.

In 200l, 9,154 people were paid $100,000-plus, compared with 7,249 in 2000.

Direct employees of the Ontario government in the $100,000 club jumped by about 60 per cent last year, according to the list.

The sharp increase was due in large part to a 30 per cent wage hike awarded crown attorneys in 2001 by an independent arbitration panel, said a spokesperson for the chair of the Management Board, David Tsubouchi.

The university sector in 2001 continued to lead the pack with 3,129 top earners, compared with 2,643 in 2000. But the big earners, $300,000 plus, were in the hospitals, with key administrators and a handful of specialists who work on salary, rather than billing OHIP. The highest-paid physician on the list is a radiologist at the Hospital for Sick Children who earned $576,727.