[Pontiac]

(and most government jobs involve working on projects stretching over decades, so you can't just replace them at the drop of a hat).

The private sector seems to be able to do this without undue difficulty.

Senior people leave all the time for better pay. The companies have to either promote a junior person to take on the project or hire someone.

Government jobs attract lifers; people who want the security, stability and retirement benefits of a government job.

The government does not need bonuses to keep its people.

[muawiyah]

Most government employees (outside the USPS) enter federal service sometime in their mid-thirties ~ almost always in a career specialty area exactly the same as they had in the private sector.

Many actually are hired into ongoing multi-year developmental projects.

You should check on how Department of Defense works sometime. They have an awful lot of systems analysts, computer systems designers, logistics personnel, etc. AS WELL AS war planners, spending their careers "doing stuff" (much of it too secret for you to hear about).

[muawiyah]

Bonuses aren't used to "keep people". That was a reference to the higher rate of pay offered to federal employees in some metropolitan areas.

Frankly the government should relocate to the suburbs and abandon the downtowns to the federal courts.