I recently retired after a 30-year career with the Federal Government. And the writer is absolutely correct. I might have been underpaid in the 1980s compared to my high-tech counterparts in the private sector, but when I retired as a GS-14 even I had to admit I was woefully overpaid for my 40 hour work-week. And now I’m enjoying a classic (CSRS) pension that by itself pays more than the average worker receives. If at one time I accepted less for the job security offered, today one gets the best of both worlds: higher pay AND job security. And how curious that today the majority of union members in the US are employed in the public sector.
I can also verify the grade inflation, though it was visible even in the 1970s. I’d completed my BA at a leading Canadian University. When I attempted as a new teaching assistant to use the standards I’d experienced to grade papers at a Big Ten school, I had a lot of clearly dissatisfied students to deal with.
