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The high salaries of public sector workers in Peru, compared with those of private sector workers, are reviewed with reference to an analysis of the Enaho survey, the most recent survey available on employment. Having noted that a comparison of average levels of salary shows that public sector employees are better paid by a large margin, we demonstrate that these différences are largely due to specific characteristics of public sector employees who are, on average, older and better qualified than their peers in the private sector. This econometric analysis confirms data from Peru obtained during the LSMS survey of 19851986 by Stelcner, van der Gaag and Vijvrberg in 1988. Public sector employees receive a lower salary than those in the private sector with the same qualifications. Other factors, which may be linked to ethnie discrimination and to tenure, seem to have at least as much, if not more, importance than the status of public servant in the income fonction.