Double dipping (where the public employee retires at age FIFTY with full retirement then picks up another job) was rampant for awhile. Don't know if it still is.
In MA, it used to be that if you put in 20 at the MBTA (transit authority), you could retire. So, if you were connected or bought a position right out of HS...at age 38, you could go on to other jobs...
Join the military at 17 learn a tech skill and achieve rank by 20 years you are eligible to retire, join the Fed Gov as a fed worker in logistics, you already have 20 years in the military added to time of service. Work another 20 years you will be 57 years old with 40 years of Fed Gov Service (you get max Fed Civilian Pension), get hired by a DoD contractor for another 8 years and retire at 65 with 401k, Military Retirement, and Fed Pension. Sell your home and move into a small empty nest house, add the capital gains from the home sale. One can do well if they know how to game the system. Most people out of college go private because the starting salaries are better, there is a chance to make it big and were taught that anyone who goes to fed gov service are risk averse people and will never mount to anything (ala losers). We all make life decisions and each decision point has risks and rewards. Private industry did not do well in the last 15 years. Off shoring jobs, H-1B replacement, automation, layoffs due to mergers/acquisitions and old age discrimination were eye openers for the ones who took the private industry route.