The big spenders on state-sector salaries

El Salvador, Guatemala and Costa Rica, together with Paraguay, Bolivia and Argentina are the six Latin American countries that have the biggest slice -- 29 percent or more -- of total public spending, according to the Intera-American Development Bank.

The study reckons that Latin American governments in total spend $400 billion a year on their wages bills.

"A large part of the inefficiency of public spending is due to optimum standards off inefficiency not being observed, says the study, entitled "Better spending for better lives."