what the hell are so many people doing in public sector jobs to begin with? It should be one quarter of the number it is.
As someone who was recently laid off by a Fortune 100, nicknamed 'Big Red', along with a few thousand other people I've seen a couple of my former colleagues have found employment in the public sector. For them public sector work provides employment security.
And to be honest, why wouldn't they think that? Government work is essentially immune to market pressure. We all know that labor is the largest liability for a corporation and that the corporation has a fiduciary duty to the shareholders and not to the employees. And when push comes to shove who is the first to go? The employee. Not to mention that those of us (or formerly) in the private sector see the standard of living for public sector employees. It's a damn sight better. It's easier to be a 'drone' in the government than it is to be an innovator in the private sector and become comfortably well-off by inventing the next widget.
As a Gen X'er I'm part of a generation that was the last to believe that one could hold a position with a company and make a 30+ year career out of it. Those days are long gone. The millenials are smarter. They act like mercenaries and jump from company to company every five years.
I've considered public sector work myself. However, as an educated conservative white male I have no doubt that my ability to secure a public position is not in my favor. We all know that it's mostly affirmative action hiring in government as the article shows.
That is the reality. Does it jive with conservative political thought? No. But if I had the same mid-level management job in the public sector that I had in private I would be making double the salary and living comfortably. So unless someone is holding the magic conservative wand to improve the business climate (especially in my state) then I don't fault people for ducking into the relative safety of government work. Remember Maslow's hierarchy of needs.