alright, then we’re talking about slightly different things: i was talking exclusively about the similar kind of government contracts…those are, afaik, almost entirely gone.

the EU contracts i know nothing about, but it’s gonna create the same problems if they’re structured similarly to the local governmental ones…

government employees rarely make more than private employees.

what they are getting mixed up is that some tenured positions get paid about 2x that of a new employee, because there are still some old contracts around that are simply much better than newer one in terms of pay raises over time.

and those older government contracts frequently include provisions that make these employees contracts impossible to terminate, resulting in some government employees that simply sit out their time on a stupidly inflated salary that nobody can fire…yes, that’s as bad as it sounds, but those contracts are, as far as im aware, no longer being offered anywhere, and the last ones to get those contracts are going to age out into retirement very soon. most are already retired.

it’s not related to corruption at all either, these contracts used to be standard in many governments all over the world, europe just happened to have some of the cushiest jobs associated with them…

but it is true that these employees generally contributed a LOT to governmental inefficiencies…which is why they’re no longer available.

u/fuckswithducks, that you?

for anyone that wants whis concept as an entire sci-fi story:

this is almost literally the plot of “children of time” by Adrian Tchaikovsky!

excellent trilogy, but the first part can be read as a standalone story!