Illinois: Across all five state retirement systems, typical career workers pay for about 5% of the cost of their pension benefits. They receive an average of $1.7 million to $3.6 million.

Those without pensions are taxed, thereby limiting the ability to save for the future, so that government employees who enjoy unparalleled job security and relatively high pay get pensions for the rest of their lives. Seems fair.

(From IllinoisPolicy)

No matter how you look at it, private sector taxpayers can rarely hope for the generous benefits they subsidize for public employees. The typical private sector worker would need to have saved $1.6 million in a personal retirement account by age 60 to receive the same $82,000  base pension as the average career teacher, or those with at least 30 years of experience.