Submitted by john, Jan 6, 2007 13:16

A great deal of the time it is the security the pension plan offers that draws qualified people to jobs. Although it may not be true in the case of Mr. Hevesi, many qualified people accept a lower annual salary then they could get in the private sector to gain the security of the pension. It is a trade off. You weren't comparing all aspects of the job when you compared the private and public sector. You can make any argument stick if you only compare the aspects which suit your cause. If you are in the private sector you can jump from job to job to increase salary and let firms compete for you in good times for financial gain and in bad you lose that opportunity. In public sector you are quite often restricted to the pay and position of the civil service test you took. For example a NYPD officer can't say look how good an officer I am and be hired by a higher paying municipality, he must try his luck at a new civil service test and start all over. The trade off of this of course is the security of the job and pension.

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