(Before you read the full article, guess the answer to this question: What percentage of public sector employees in Italy have lifetime tenure?)<\/i>.<\/p>\n
With only 960 residents and a handful of roads, this tiny hilltop village in the arid, sulfurous hills of southern Sicily does not appear to have major traffic problems. But that does not prevent it from having one full-time traffic officer \u201d\u201d and eight auxiliaries.<\/p>\n
The auxiliaries, who earn a respectable 800 euros a month, or $1,100, to work 20 hours a week, are among about 64 Comitini residents employed by the town, the product of an entrenched jobs-for-votes system pervasive in Italian politics at all levels.<\/p>\n
\u201cJobs like these have kept this city alive,\u201d\u009d said Caterina Valenti, 41, an auxiliary in a neat blue uniform as she sat recently with two colleagues, all on duty, drinking coffee in the town\u2019s bar on a hot afternoon. \u201cYou see, here we are at the bar, we support the economy this way.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n