[quote=EconProf]
I’ve heard that the public sector workers almost never quit, suggesting that they know they have a good deal. But that’s only anecdotal. Any Piggs have any statistics?[/quote]
Teachers are a pretty decent place to look. The NCTAF says that about 50% of teacher turn over in the first 5 years, but the total turn over is only 16.8%. So once you get past that first 5 years the turnout must get really low to balance out the stats. Here’s an article that talks about public school vs charter school turnover http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/07/los-angeles-charter-schools-have-high-teacher-turnover.html
My thought is that once you get to about year 5 the benefit package becomes too good to give up. In addition your pay is probably competitive for the skill set you have. Honestly where is a 10 year veteran teacher going to make $50K+ plus generous benefits in the private sector for their skill set. Charter schools aren’t paying that, tutoring services aren’t paying that and most entry level jobs in other fields aren’t paying that. The only competition is another school district.
I think that’s true for a lot of public sector jobs. Most public sector jobs have a skill set that is not in competition with a private sector job. The competition is with another public sector job.
