Ministers’ pay
How Singapore tops the world
Before planned hike, leaders already earn far more than those in the richest nations. By Rana.
Mar 25, 2007

Singapore ministers are currently paid S$1.2 million (US$790,000) a year, but that's not enough. They have to be paid more to close a 55 per cent gap with the private sector, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said last night.

Ministers' salaries have remained unchanged since 2000, he added. The Straits Times in Singapore explained:

A minister should be drawing S$2.2 million a year or more, according to benchmarks approved by Parliament in 1994 to ensure competitive salaries for a competent and honest government.

The prime minister didn't specify how much the salaries would be raised, but said details will be disclosed on April 9 in Parliament.

I wanted to find out how much leaders in other countries are paid. Here are some figures:

USA (All in US dollars):
President: $400,000
Vice President: $208,100
Senator: $162,100
Representative: $162,100
Majority and Minority Leaders: $188,100
Speaker of the House: $208,100
Supreme Court Chief Justice: $208,100
Supreme Court Associate Justice: $199,200
(Source: 2005 figures from Infoplease)

UK
Prime Minister - £187,611 (US%368,655)
Cabinet Minister - £136,677 (US$268,570)
Minister of State - £99,908 (US$196,320)
Leader of the opposition: £130,312 (US$256,063)
Member of Parliament: £60,277 (US$118,444)
Speaker - £136,677 (US$268,570)
Solicitor General - £126,846 (US$248,860)
(Source: Nov 2006, UK parliament)

Australia

Prime Minister: $309,270
(Source: Since Nov 2006, Wikipedia)

Hong Kong
Chief Executive: $420,000
(Source: Jan 2003, New York Times)

Japan
Prime Minister: $300,000
(Source: April 2004, Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty)

Please note some of these figures may be out of date.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took a 30 percent pay cut when he came to office in September 2006 and lowered other top officials' pay by 10 percent. But the reports didn't mention their actual pay.

European prime ministers as a rule are paid at least five times less than European business leaders, according to a 2005 study.
Posted by rana on March 23, 2007

http://rana.typepad.com/weblog/2007/03/the_internation.html