I already said that I thought public sector compensation was backloaded (and shouldn't be).  Yes, salaries should be looked at too, and if the government (like any employer) is unable to attract enough qualified employees to fill their jobs, salary needs to be adjusted.  That's a given, for ANY labor market.

What we were specifically discussing, though, is how retirement benefits compare.  And those are the details I was giving you, to illustrate how far out of whack those retirement benefits are compared to the private sector.

Now, if you want to make a case for salaries being off too, that's fine. That's a bit trickier though because there are other pros/cons to the jobs that affect it's value. K-12 teachers, for instance, usually only work a 9-10 month workyear, which is of extra value to many employees.  Like any marketplace, that's the type of factor that affects the price.

The ultimate gauge for whether a job is being underpaid or not is whether those jobs go unfilled.