Officials in the civil service may be able to take high-level positions in public corporations or private industry upon retirement, as a direct result of their former position in government. A general perception held by most civil servants and government employee unions is that state employees are paid less than their private sector counterparts. Accurate comparisons, however, are not easily made. It is certainly true that in many countries civil servants' remuneration has declined in real terms. In Korea, average pay in the civil service in the early 1990s was two-thirds that of the private sector, with the pay differential rising in higher civil service grades.
Incentives change during civil servants' career progression.
Pay scales typically are organized in a pyramid of hierarchical grades that differentiate people and positions according to the skill level and knowledge required for particular jobs. Additionally, the whole civil service can be disaggregated vertically into narrower pyramids representing specific occupational cadres. For example, the medical cadre could comprise doctors and paramedics employed by government. Often different cadres have their own range of grades organized according to skill requirements that are difficult to compare across cadres. The combinations of grades and cadres provide a series of horizontal and vertical organizational structures.