Italy: public sector managers highest paid of OECD countries

Italy's senior civil servants top the OECD pay league but, as riots in Rome in 2010 show, confidence in government is low. Photograph: Alessandro Bianchi/Reuters

Italy: public sector managers highest paid of OECD countries

Senior managers in Italy were the highest paid among the 34 member states of the OECD, according to an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development report on citizen satisfaction with their governments.
Average salaries for high-ranking public sector officials in Italy were $650,000, almost three times the OECD average of $232,000.
Meanwhile, the OECD also found that only 28% of Italian citizens surveyed in 2012 had confidence in their government, well below the average confidence level of 40% across the other 34 OECD states.

Finland: women trail men on pay except in senior public sector roles

Female senior officials and managers in the civil service earn 111% of the average wage of their male counterparts, a survey found.
At all other levels women's pay is lower than men's and in the private sector women's pay does not exceed that of men at any level, according to the survey from Akava.
The average salary for a woman is 85% that of a man.

Scotland: yes vote on independence would risk jobs, claims minister

International development secretary Justine Greening said she would be forced to review her department's operations north of the border where about 600 civil servants are employed if Scotland gained independence.
These jobs would be put at risk because, she said, it would be unusual for her huge department, which has a huge headquarters in East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire, to keep a second one outside the UK.
She also said the UK's aid budget would shrink if Scotland left.

Morocco: the perks of being a civil servant

A million civil servants in Morocco have 115,000 cars at their disposal and receive an allowance for insurance, tax, gas, repairs and tolls.
This compares with the United States, where 21 million public employees use 72,000 cars, and Japan, which has 5.3 million state employees and 3,400 cars.
Civil service jobs in the country are prized because they are stable, permanent and enjoy a special status.

US: Colorado to fund public services with cannabis tax

Colorado will become the first state in the US to tax the sale of marijuana. The 25% levy placed on cannabis sales after legalisation will be used to pay for construction of public schools.
Brian Vicente, chair of the Marijuana Tax Campaign, said: "It has taken the money out of the hands of drug cartels, moved it behind the counter... and then the tax revenue actually benefits the state."