patrick.net

CL says

I thought it was relatively widely accepted that Government pay was usually lower than the private sector but that the trade-off was stability.

govt is virtually a monopoly. a govt entity is at no risk of losing its customers. therefore the govt positions will continue to be needed. and their future stream of revenues that fuel projects and employee pay it virtually uninterrupted.

on the other hand any and all private sector entity and their employee are at risk of losing their jobs/incomes at anyone time due to any foreseeable or unforeseeable events. no guarantees exist.

pension and other benefit also favor public-govt sector workers.

since 2000, the imbalance caused by higher demand in pay by govt workers has created far more imbalance than in any prior decades... welcome to the new 1%.

So why don't people in the private sector clamor to get jobs in the awesome public sector?

Be a Public Servant! Buy a yacht! World Tour! Rolls Royce!

CL says

So why don't people in the private sector clamor to get jobs in the awesome public sector?

Be a Public Servant! Buy a yacht! World Tour! Rolls Royce!

Some people do, for example Newt Gingrich with his notorious Tiffany's bill. (A gluttonous hypocrite has to keep his third wife happy in their "open marriage" somehow.) The Bushes and Clintons have profited famously from their time in the public sector, but they are hardly alone, as reports of California civil servants retiring with lifetime pensions over $100k/yr have become routine.

Most people don't though, and the reason has to do with Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegon, where all the children are above average. Michael Moore has presented this well too. Most Americans believe in the Horatio Alger stories, and Republicans in particular have exploited that belief to sell tax cuts for the rich, because even roofers imagine that if they apply themselves they'll strike it rich someday. You can show young adults any number of statistics saying that borrowing $ to get an advanced degree in an uneconomic field is probably going to make them poorer, but they'll assume that they're special and they're going to be among the few for whom it works out perfectly. It's confirmation bias, and the inability of the pre-human brain to understand aggregate statistics based on large numbers: tell an eager 18yo an anecdote about JK Rowling and Tom Clancy and John Grisham and their vast fortunes, and then tell her some impersonal statistics about how most English majors don't make much money with those degrees, and she'll conclude that her ideas are special and she'll be the next JK Rowling rather than the next Mrs. Krabappel.

CL says

So why don't people in the private sector clamor to get jobs in the awesome public sector?

Because the public sector jobs are so good that nobody ever quits, or gets fired. That's makes them really hard to get since job openings are scarce.

zzyzzx says

CL says

So why don't people in the private sector clamor to get jobs in the awesome public sector?

Because the public sector jobs are so good that nobody ever quits, or gets fired. That's makes them really hard to get since job openings are scarce.

According to the rightwing, Government just grows and grows, is inefficient, countless holidays and so on. So, there should be ample opportunities every year!curious2 says

The Bushes and Clintons have profited famously from their time in the public sector,

Mostly, post-career profiting. This is more like "I could be President of America or CEO of a company"....

"I could be Chief of Police or mid-level Manager"