Saturday, March 24, 2007

A different way to determine the market salary

Someone suggested a different way to determine the market salary of government minsters and top civil servants. It goes like this:

* find out the mean salary of the top 1,000 people who earned the highest salary
* this is used as a benchmark to determine the salary of ministers and top civil servants.
* the office holders can earn a certain percentage (may be more than 100%) of the benchmark salary.

His argument:

* the benchmark should be calculated on 1,000 people, and not the top 8 people
* the economy needs least 1,000 top people to manage it well
* a larger base gives greater stability
* it ensures that a very high proportion of the top people remain in the cohort each year

To calculate the benchmark for the young top talents, he suggested that it should be based on the top 1,000 salaries in the relevant age group, for example, 30 to 35 years.

This suggestion seems to make a lot of sense. I do not know what is the benchmark for the top 1,000 people, and if it reflects a better trend over the years.

It is worth exploring.

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