In the poorest countries, there is a large gap between the wages of public- and private-sector employees. In the poorest countries, public-sector workers earn more than double the average wage in the private sector. And this is not counting generous health and pension benefits.118 This kind of difference can throw the entire labor market into a tailspin. If government-sector jobs are so much more valuable than private-sector jobs, but also very scarce, it is worthwhile for everybody to wait around and queue for those jobs.
