With that attitude, the pay will always be lower. Letting the dogma be self-reinforcing isnt the winning strat. The difference isnt even benefits, retirement, and pension. Maybe in the 80/90s or even 00s that was the case, but it's a dead philosophy carried by dead justifications.
The (employment) contract value should be the same, not the pay.
There is less inherent risk for public sector jobs than for companies that can go bankrupt. Hence for the contract value to be the same, the pay needs to be a bit lower.
