Italian Parliament's Barbers See Pay Cut—to $125K

In Italy, the average nurse earns about $30,000 a year. A high school teacher typically brings home about the same, PayScale.com reports. The barbers who snip the hair of Italy's members of parliament? Well, they rake in just a bit more: $125,000 a year—and that's after a pay cut. Following a report last year that found barbers on the parliamentary payroll make up to $170,000 per year, they're being included in an "austerity drive," the BBC reports, citing Italian paper Quotidiano Libero.

Apparently even barbers think the pay is a bit much, the Local reports. "It's excessive," says Domenico Lotorto, who claims Italian President Giorgio Napolitano is a customer at his private shop in Rome. "They should earn the same as a normal worker there, with a salary based on the tariff from the national association of barbers." (More Italy stories.)