Honestly, working in a large corporation is very different to working in a public institution. For example, in my experience, your salary is much more of a nego

Honestly, working in a large corporation is very different to working in a public institution. For example, in my experience, your salary is much more of a negotiation between yourself and your direct superiors. You can highlight the value/profit your bring to the company, and if they underestimate you the you can change to a higher paying job somewhere else. That opportunity just doesn't exist in public industries where pay scales are rigidly set to the number of years of experience you have, or the specific job title. You can argue all you want but unless you're absolutely exceptional (undergrad paper in Nature level exceptional) you'll get nowhere. One of the reasons that teachers and doctors have such absurdly poor working conditions and pay (in the UK at least) relative to the value they bring to society, is that they're mostly paid via the state so the only way they can demonstrate their value is through striking. If the government takes a hard line of strikes and public spending then those industries suffer.