There was once a conventional wisdom that public employees implicitly accepted lower pay but received better pensions. It’s not clear whether that remains true, although public employers are among the last to offer defined benefit plans. In a recent report, the Pew Center on the States suggests that the public may not be willing to finance public systems that offer benefits well in excess of those found in the private sector. Moreover, Pew identifies a host of practices that have compromised state pension systems and puts forth five policies that can help to remedy the situation.
