In today's (still) uncertain economy stability is seen as a positive, and since (federal) govt. jobs are seen as relatively stable, ergo people want to work for the federal govt. and govt. employees prefer to stay in their jobs if they can.
As a
general rule, govt. workers ARE underpaid, but have benefits + stability to balance out the equation, and they tend to be
better educated than their private counterparts. even adjusting for cost of living, private businesses outpay govt. work.
2010 General Schedule (GS) pay bands Other federal agencies/branches may have their own pay bands (such as the military
military).
Ask a govt. contractor how lucrative govt. work is without all the shenanigans involved (ie double-billing, lowballing, etc). Ask a govt. Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) how rich he's getting when he has student loans and a family.....
Lastly, my understanding is that there's a fair amount of govt. attrition each year, not all of which gets replaced. And at the Social Security Administration at least, there's quite a number of people who've been with the agency since SSI began in the early 1970s. They're going to retire within the next few years....so there will in fact be more job openings now or in the near future, at least with SSA.
In short, govt. employment neither pays poorly nor does it make one "rich".