Not if the Governor gets his way, he is pushing to have all State employees put on a 401k type system to reduce unfunded pension liability.
Don't most gov employees already get paid less than employees in the private sector? That's my experience with the ones I know. If I went to gov employment, I would take a big pay cut (~25-40%). I am in the minority of private sector employees though, being a union tradesman.
Actually it depends on what job you have in Govt on if you're over paid vis-a-vis the private sector. I've heard / read that low level employees (think Janitors, for example) are highly over compensated at Govt. I suspect that in high skill jobs, Govt is equal to underpaid versus private industry of comparable experience.
There's also the intangibles that don't show up in a paycheck as well - in Govt, you pretty much have to
try to get fired, and even then, often times they can't fire you, AND you get to keep collecting the paycheck for zero work "while on paid leave". In private industry, yeah, there's slackers, especially in unionized jobs (note, I'm in a union, I see it first hand), but getting rid of the dead wood is simple compared to Govt. So, what's that worth? [shrugs]
Don't think this is the case? Just Google "NYC Rubber Room" for an example of how hard it is to fire public sector employees. Another one is the SEC employees viewing porn on their Govt computers. In my union private sector job, I'd be out the door in no time flat for that. But at the DEA and Secret Service, I guess you can get hookers in Columbia and not get fired.
Oh, and BTW - for some of those of us looking to FI / ER - a pension sucks. I can't collect until I'm 65. I'll ER before 50....I wish I had the NPV of that pension in my 401k since I'd be ER today. Pensions are merely another form of golden handcuffs to keep you slaving away at the assembly line / desk until
THEY say it's time to stop, a dependent of the company / state.