I think you may find the words 'job', 'protection', 'perks', 'grossly', 'over-inflated', 'salaries', 'final', 'salary' (again), 'pension' and 'scheme' all in the same sentence..........but don't let my tainted opinion blur your own viewpoint!!!
There are pointless exams (Separate VFR / IFR Comms exams????
) and in some countries at least, the examination system is a revenue creating gravy train, with extortionately priced exams.
The EU is slowly (very slowly) adopting the US way of doing things but with the speed of a striking slow-worm, and we may one day see a unified examination, probably just in time for the Organisation of European United Federations (OEUF - run by the French of course) Commercial Air Transportation Pilot Inter-Stellar Shuttle (CATPISS) Licence with Mars Rating. Don't worry, folks, they'll probably c
k that up as well.