Final Word from Monday, February 6, 2012
In Singapore, the prime minister earns $1.7m a year and senior civil servants get asmuch as $200,000, while the average annual salary in the country is about $35,000.PM Lee Hsien Loong said yesterday on CNN's GPS that it's important for the pay tobe commensurate with the responsibility of the position and the quality of the personin the job. The Czech media are releasing one news report after another (includingone last night on ČT) about the large bonuses of some civil servants, but rarelydo we get an idea of whether the state is getting proper value for its money. Instead,we get the impression that some government workers are earning much more in thestate sector than anyone would ever be willing to pay them in the private sector (suchas Jana Nagyová or Martin Říman). The assumption must be, until Nečas shows otherwise,that the compensation is so high simply because it is possible to pay it.
Glossary of difficult words
civil servant - a member of the permanent professional branches of a government's administration, excluding military and judicial branches and elected politicians;
commensurate with - appropriate to, in keeping with.